| 1 | Elena Fidatov | ROM | 15:36,39 | Q |
| 2 | Olga Churbanova | RUS | 15:37,23 | Q |
| 3 | Gina Procaccio | USA | 15:37,66 | Q |
| 4 | Florence Barsosio Jepkemoi | KEN | 15:38,22 | Q |
| 5 | Päivi Tikkanen | FIN | 15:38,25 | |
| 6 | Atsumi Yashima | JPN | 15:40,02 | |
| 7 | Rosario Murcia | FRA | 15:41,73 | |
| 8 | Nina Christiansen | DEN | 15:44,66 | |
| 9 | Brynhild Synstnes | NOR | 15:46,17 | |
| 10 | Adriana Fernández | MEX | 15:46,89 | |
| 11 | Milka Mikhaylova | BUL | 15:49,31 | |
| 12 | Tamara Koba | UKR | 15:53,67 | |
| 13 | Martha Ernstsdottir | ISL | 16:05,33 | |
| 14 | Marina Bastos | POR | 16:16,78 | |
| Alison Wyeth | GBR | DNF | ||
| Derartu Tulu | ETH | DNS | ||
| Elana Meyer | RSA | DNS |
| 1 | Sonia O'Sullivan | IRL | 15:13,88 | Q | |
| 2 | Gabriela Szabo | ROM | 15:14,65 | Q | |
| 3 | Mariya Pantyukhova | RUS | 15:14,70 | Q | |
| 4 | Paula Radcliffe | GBR | 15:14,77 | Q | |
| 5 | Sara Wedlund | SWE | 15:15,67 | q | |
| 6 | Sally Barsosio | KEN | 15:18,41 | q | |
| 7 | Michiko Shimizu | JPN | 15:18,97 | q | |
| 8 | Silvia Sommaggio | ITA | 15:20,89 | ||
| 9 | Ana Dias | POR | 15:29,32 | ||
| 10 | Serap Aktas | TUR | 15:53,76 | NR | |
| 11 | Libbie Johnson-Hickman | USA | 15:54,97 | ||
| 12 | Anne Cross | AUS | 16:09,32 | ||
| Monika Schäfer | GER | DNF | |||
| Zhaoxia Dong | CHN | DNF | |||
| Hilde Stavik | NOR | DNF | |||
| Gete Wami | ETH | DNS | |||
| Marleen Renders | BEL | DNS |
| 1 | Rose Cheruiyot | KEN | 15:21,36 | Q |
| 2 | Zahra Ouaziz | MAR | 15:22,02 | Q |
| 3 | Fernanda Ribeiro | POR | 15:22,04 | Q |
| 4 | Gwen Griffiths | RSA | 15:32,22 | Q |
| 5 | Anne-Marie Danneels | BEL | 15:33,70 | |
| 6 | Chiemi Takahashi | JPN | 15:35,13 | |
| 7 | Carolyn Schuwalow | AUS | 15:37,62 | |
| 8 | Gitte Karlshøj | DEN | 15:39,12 | |
| 9 | Luchia Yishak | ETH | 15:42,37 | |
| 10 | Laura Mykytok | USA | 15:48,95 | |
| 11 | Andrea Karhoff | GER | 16:02,26 | |
| 12 | Ursula Jeitziner | SUI | 16:12,57 | |
| 13 | Sinead Delahunty | IRL | 16:18,61 | |
| 14 | Marie-Pierre Duros | FRA | 16:48,66 | |
| 15 | Mirsada Buric-Adam | BSH | 17:07,44 | |
| Viktoriya Nenasheva | RUS | DNF | ||
| Gunhild Halle | NOR | DNF |