| 1 | Debbie Scott-Bowker | CAN | 8:46,88 | Q |
| 2 | Ulrike Bruns | GDR | 8:47,15 | Q |
| 3 | Cornelia Bürki | SUI | 8:47,95 | Q |
| 4 | Olga Bondarenko | URS | 8:48,11 | Q |
| 5 | Yvonne Murray | GBR | 8:48,44 | Q |
| 6 | Vera Michallek | FRG | 8:49,61 | Q |
| 7 | Mary Knisely | USA | 8:49,61 | q |
| 8 | Annette Sergent-Palluy | FRA | 8:52,45 | |
| 9 | Cindy Bremser | USA | 8:54,17 | |
| 10 | Jackie Perkins | AUS | 8:57,24 | |
| 11 | Fernanda Ribeiro | POR | 9:01,15 | |
| 12 | Dorina Calenic-Briand | ROM | 9:01,83 | |
| 13 | Satu Levelä | FIN | 9:16,28 | |
| 14 | Monica Regonessi | CHI | 9:26,11 | |
| 15 | Kumari Pandey Raj | NEP | 10:44,15 |
| 1 | Wendy Smith-Sly | GBR | 8:44,79 | Q | |
| 2 | Yelena Romanova | URS | 8:45,00 | Q | |
| 3 | Tatyana Samolenko-Dorovskikh | URS | 8:45,20 | Q | |
| 4 | Elly Van Hulst | NED | 8:45,20 | Q | NR |
| 5 | Maricica Puica | ROM | 8:45,55 | Q | |
| 6 | Marie-Pierre Duros | FRA | 8:46,81 | Q | NR |
| 7 | Lynn Kanuka-Williams | CAN | 8:47,43 | q | |
| 8 | Christine Tranter-Benning | GBR | 8:48,63 | q | |
| 9 | Xiuting Wang | CHN | 8:50,68 | AR | |
| 10 | Paula Ilie-Ivan | ROM | 8:51,20 | ||
| 11 | Leslie Seymour | USA | 8:51,34 | ||
| 12 | Radka Naplatanova | BUL | 8:51,98 | ||
| 13 | Agnese Possamai | ITA | 8:57,85 | ||
| 14 | Andri Avraam | CYP | 9:09,34 | ||
| Martine Fays | FRA | DNF | |||
| Fanny Gidiyoni | MAW | DNS |