| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grit Breuer |  GER | 51.13 Q | 0.159 | 
| 2 | Natalya Nazarova |  RUS | 51.51 Q | 0.178 | 
| 3 | Ester Goossens |  NED | 52.05 q SB | 0.142 | 
| 4 | Virna De Angeli |  ITA | 52.50 q SB | 0.171 | 
| 5 | Alina Râpanu |  ROU | 52.64 q PB | 0.179 | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jearl Miles Clark |  USA | 51.79 Q SB | 0.158 | 
| 2 | Deon Hemmings |  JAM | 52.10 Q | 0.176 | 
| 3 | Charity Opara |  NGR | 52.11 q SB | 0.152 | 
| 4 | Sakie Nobuoka |  JPN | 54.11 | 0.156 | 
| 5 | Kaltouma Nadjina |  CHA | 54.30 NR | 0.182 | 
| Helena Fuchsová |  CZE | DNS | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandie Richards |  JAM | 52.40 Q | 0.172 | 
| 2 | Falilat Ogunkoya |  NGR | 52.64 Q | 0.137 | 
| 3 | Susan Andrews |  AUS | 52.65 | 0.144 | 
| 4 | Shanelle Porter |  USA | 52.65 | 0.198 | 
| Amy Mbacke Thiam |  SEN | DNS | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olga Kotlyarova |  RUS | 52.06 Q | 0.148 | 
| 2 | Ana Guevara |  MEX | 52.43 Q | 0.177 | 
| 3 | Sinead Dudgeon |  GBR | 52.84 PB | 0.170 | 
| 4 | Tonique Williams-Darling |  BAH | 54.65 | 0.140 | 
| 5 | Yuxiang Chen |  CHN | 55.14 | 0.197 | 
| Ameerah Bello |  ISV | DNS |