| 1 | Mary Decker-Slaney | USA | |
8:34,62 | |
| 2 | Brigitte Kraus | FRG | |
8:35,11 | NR |
| 3 | Tatyana Kazankina | URS | |
8:35,13 | |
| 4 | Svetlana Ulmasova | URS | 8:35,55 | ||
| 5 | Wendy Smith-Sly | GBR | 8:37,06 | NR | |
| 6 | Agnese Possamai | ITA | 8:37,96 | NR | |
| 7 | Jane Furniss-Shields | GBR | 8:45,69 | ||
| 8 | Natalya Artyomova | URS | 8:47,98 | ||
| 9 | Aurora Cunha | POR | 8:50,20 | NR | |
| 10 | Lynn Kanuka-Williams | CAN | 8:50,20 | ||
| 11 | Cornelia Bürki | SUI | 8:53,85 | ||
| 12 | Eva Ernström | SWE | 8:57,59 | ||
| 13 | Christine Tranter-Benning | GBR | 8:58,01 | ||
| 14 | Lorraine Moller | NZL | 9:02,19 | ||
| 15 | Alison Wiley | CAN | 9:15,35 |