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