| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 5 | Yelena Afanasyeva |  RUS | 2:00.12 Q | 
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Maria de Lurdes Mutola |  MOZ | 2:00.88 Q | 
| 3 | 2 | 5 | Luciana Mendes |  BRA | 2:00.89 Q | 
| 4 | 1 | 3 | Letitia Vriesde |  SUR | 2:00.92 Q | 
| 5 | 2 | 3 | Stella Jongmans |  NED | 2:01.06 Q | 
| 6 | 2 | 4 | Joetta Clark-Diggs |  USA | 2:01.15 Q | 
| 7 | 1 | 1 | Ludmila Formanová |  CZE | 2:01.46 Q | 
| 8 | 3 | 4 | Petya Strashilova |  BUL | 2:01.49 q | 
| 9 | 4 | 4 | Nouria Mérah-Benida |  ALG | 2:01.54 q | 
| 10 | 3 | 5 | Hasna Benhassi |  MAR | 2:01.56 q | 
| 10 | 1 | 2 | Ana Fidelia Quirot |  CUB | 2:01.56 Q | 
| 12 | 4 | 5 | Malgorzata Rydz |  POL | 2:01.68 q | 
| 13 | 2 | 2 | Olena Buzhenko-Sergeyeva |  UKR | 2:02.00 Q | 
| 14 | 3 | 2 | Toni Hodgkinson |  NZL | 2:02.21 q | 
| 15 | 3 | 3 | Rosa Kutty |  IND | 2:02.22 | 
| 16 | 2 | 1 | Natalya Dukhnova |  BLR | 2:02.39 Q | 
| 17 | 5 | 4 | Stephanie Graf |  AUT | 2:02.52 | 
| 18 | 6 | 4 | Charmaine Crooks |  CAN | 2:02.84 | 
| 19 | 3 | 1 | Linda Kisabaka |  GER | 2:03.22 | 
| 20 | 4 | 3 | Kathy Harris-Rounds |  USA | 2:03.33 | 
| 21 | 5 | 3 | Dawn Williams-Sewer |  DMA | 2:03.35 | 
| 22 | 4 | 1 | Julia Sakara |  ZIM | 2:03.55 | 
| 23 | 5 | 5 | Iryna Lishchynska |  UKR | 2:03.56 | 
| 24 | 6 | 5 | Monika Kinnunen |  FIN | 2:04.11 | 
| 25 | 5 | 1 | Öznur Dursun |  TUR | 2:04.62 | 
| 26 | 4 | 2 | Jill Stamison-McMullen |  USA | 2:06.16 | 
| 27 | 5 | 2 | Theoni Kostopoulou |  GRE | 2:07.32 | 
| 28 | 6 | 1 | Leontine Tsiba |  CGO | 2:07.34 NR | 
| 29 | 6 | 2 | Jolanda Batagelj |  SLO | 2:10.97 | 
| 30 | 7 | 2 | Adama Njie |  GAM | 2:13.50 | 
| 31 | 7 | 5 | Monica Randi |  SMR | 2:16.00 | 
| 32 | 7 | 1 | Abok Shol |  SUD | 2:16.74 NR | 
| 33 | 6 | 3 | Natalia Al Farran |  LBN | 2:18.11 PB | 
| 34 | 7 | 3 | Donata Mutegwamaso |  RWA | 2:25.07 | 
| 35 | 7 | 4 | Yaznee Nasheeda |  MDV | 2:36.18 | 
| 3 | Lyubov Kiryukhina-Tsyoma |  RUS | DQ | ||
| 4 | Alberta Cape |  GBS | DNS | ||
| 1 | Malin Ewerlöf |  SWE | DNS |