| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriela Szabo |  ROU | 15:26.62 Q | 
| 2 | Paula Radcliffe |  GBR | 15:27.25 Q | 
| 3 | Harumi Hiroyama-Suzuki |  JPN | 15:27.75 Q | 
| 4 | Roberta Brunet |  ITA | 15:29.03 Q | 
| 5 | Ayelech Worku |  ETH | 15:29.37 Q | 
| 6 | Li Wei |  CHN | 15:29.62 Q | 
| 7 | Libbie Johnson-Hickman |  USA | 15:30.56 q SB | 
| 8 | Gunhild Halle-Haugen |  NOR | 15:32.13 q | 
| 9 | Kate Anderson-Richardson |  AUS | 15:36.16 q | 
| 10 | Ebru Kavaklioglu |  RUS | 15:37.19 PB | 
| 11 | Adriana Fernández |  MEX | 15:41.55 | 
| 12 | Melody Fairchild |  USA | 15:47.66 | 
| 13 | Marina Bastos |  POR | 15:54.01 | 
| 14 | Valerie Vaughan |  IRL | 15:57.58 | 
| 15 | Zahra Ouaziz |  MAR | 15:58.84 | 
| 16 | Genet Gebregiorgis |  ETH | 16:04.40 SB | 
| 17 | Laurence Duquenoy |  FRA | 16:06.02 | 
| 18 | Justine Nahimana |  BDI | 17:21.77 | 
| 19 | Nebiat Habtemariam |  ERI | 18:26.50 | 
| 20 | Zalia Aliou |  TOG | 18:34.45 NR | 
| 21 | Martha Portoblanco |  NCA | 19:08.44 | 
| Maysa Matrood |  IRQ | DNS | |
| Elana Meyer |  RSA | DNS | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernanda Ribeiro |  POR | 15:27.30 Q | 
| 2 | Jianying Liu |  CHN | 15:29.28 Q PB | 
| 3 | Lydia Cheromei |  KEN | 15:32.00 Q | 
| 4 | Merima Denboba |  ETH | 15:32.01 Q | 
| 5 | Naoko Takahashi |  JPN | 15:32.25 Q | 
| 6 | Yuko Kawakami |  JPN | 15:32.71 Q | 
| 7 | Sonia O'Sullivan |  IRL | 15:40.82 | 
| 8 | Stela Olteanu |  ROU | 15:40.86 | 
| 9 | Olivera Jevtic |  SCG | 15:43.76 | 
| 10 | HrisostomÃa Iakóvou |  GRE | 15:51.14 | 
| 11 | Restituta Joseph |  TAN | 15:55.22 NR | 
| 12 | Amy Rudolph |  USA | 16:00.87 | 
| 13 | Una English |  IRL | 16:07.09 | 
| 14 | Jelena Prokopcuka |  LAT | 16:27.63 | 
| 15 | Helena Javornik |  SLO | 16:28.38 | 
| Kristina da Fonseca-Wollheim |  GER | DNF | |
| Anne Hare |  NZL | DNF | |
| Carol Howe |  CAN | DNS | |
| Annemari KIEKARA |  FIN | DNS |