| 1 | UdSSR | URS | 3:20,75 | Q | |
| (Aelita Yurchenko, Olga V. Nazarova, | |||||
| Mariya Kulchunova-Pinigina, Olga Vladykina-Bryzgina) | |||||
| 2 | USA | USA | 3:22,32 | Q | |
| (Diane Dixon, Denean Howard-Hill, | |||||
| Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Lillie Leatherwood) | |||||
| 3 | Kanada | CAN | 3:24,50 | Q | |
| (Charmaine Crooks, Molly Killingbeck, | |||||
| Marita Payne-Wiggins, Jillian Richardson) | |||||
| 4 | Frankreich | FRA | 3:27,76 | Q | |
| (Nathalie Simon, Nadine Debois, | |||||
| Helene Huart, Fabienne Ficher) | |||||
| 5 | Kuba | CUB | 3:29,78 | ||
| (Ester Petitón, Odalys Hernandez, | |||||
| Tania Fernandez, Ana Fidelia Quirot) | |||||
| 6 | Kenia | KEN | 3:30,16 | ||
| (Geraldine Shitandayi, Florence Wanjiru, | |||||
| Esther Kavaya, Francisca Chepkurui) | |||||
| 7 | Brasilien | BRA | 3:30,91 | AR | |
| (Suzete Montalvao, Maria Do Carmo Fialho, | |||||
| Soraya Telles, Maria Magnólia Figueiredo) | |||||
| 8 | Indien | IND | 3:31,55 | AR | |
| (Vandana Shanbag, Vandana Rao, | |||||
| Shiny Abraham-Wilson, P.T. Usha) |
| 1 | GDR | GDR | 3:22,97 | Q | |
| (Kirsten Siemon-Emmelmann, Dagmar Rübsam-Neubauer, | |||||
| Cornelia Feuerbach-Ullrich, Petra Müller-Schersing) | |||||
| 2 | Bulgarien | BUL | 3:25,85 | Q | |
| (Malena Andonova, Rositsa Stamenova, | |||||
| Pepa Pavlova, Yuliana Marinova) | |||||
| 3 | FRG | FRG | 3:26,75 | Q | |
| (Karin Lix, Helga Arendt, | |||||
| Gudrun Abt, Gisela Kinzel) | |||||
| 4 | Jamaika | JAM | 3:27,13 | Q | |
| (Cathy Rattray-Williams, Sandie Richards, | |||||
| Sandra Farmer-Patrick, Ilrey Oliver) | |||||
| 5 | Ungarn | HUN | 3:31,56 | ||
| (Erzsebet Szabo, Erika Szopori, | |||||
| Noemi Batori, Judit Forgacs) | |||||
| 6 | Italien | ITA | 3:31,72 | ||
| (Rossana Morabito, Cosetta Campana, | |||||
| Nevia Pistrino, Erica Rossi) | |||||
| 7 | Spanien | ESP | 3:32,01 | ||
| (Rosa Colorado, Cristina Pérez, | |||||
| Montserrat Pujol, Blanca Lacambra) | |||||
| 8 | Irland | IRL | 3:32,56 | NR | |
| (Michelle Walsh-Carroll, Barbara Johnson, | |||||
| Patricia Walsh, Patricia Amond) |