| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Jearl Miles Clark |
USA |
52.48 |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Daniela Georgieva |
BUL |
52.67 |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | Irina Privalova |
RUS |
52.78 |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | Tatyana Chebykina |
RUS |
52.84 |
| 5 | 2 | 4 | Deon Hemmings |
JAM |
52.91 |
| 6 | 3 | 4 | Helena Fuchsová |
CZE |
53.05 |
| 7 | 1 | 2 | Magdalena Nedelcu |
ROU |
53.10 |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | Sandie Richards |
JAM |
53.14 |
| 9 | 3 | 2 | Sandra Myers |
ESP |
53.22 |
| 10 | 2 | 3 | Kim Graham |
USA |
53.23 |
| 11 | 3 | 3 | Naděžda Koštovalová |
CZE |
53.33 |
| 12 | 4 | 2 | Melanie Neef |
GBR |
53.34 |
| 13 | 4 | 4 | Dora Kyriakou |
CYP |
53.46 |
| 14 | 3 | 1 | Yolanda Reyes |
ESP |
53.56 PB |
| 15 | 4 | 3 | Linda Kisabaka |
GER |
53.68 |
| 16 | 5 | 3 | Susan Earnshaw |
GBR |
53.85 |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | Hengyun Zhang |
CHN |
54.27 |
| 18 | 5 | 2 | Chunying Cao |
CHN |
55.32 |
| 1 | Marie-Louise Bévis |
FRA |
DQ | ||
| 5 | 4 | Myadagmaa Otgontuya |
MGL |
DNS |