| 1 | Sonia O'Sullivan | IRL | |
14:46,47 | |
| 2 | Fernanda Ribeiro | POR | |
14:48,54 | |
| 3 | Zahra Ouaziz | MAR | |
14:53,77 | NR |
| 4 | Gabriela Szabo | ROM | 14:56,57 | NR | |
| 5 | Paula Radcliffe | GBR | 14:57,02 | ||
| 6 | Mariya Pantyukhova | RUS | 15:01,23 | ||
| 7 | Rose Cheruiyot | KEN | 15:02,45 | NR | |
| 8 | Gwen Griffiths | RSA | 15:08,05 | ||
| 9 | Sara Wedlund | SWE | 15:08,36 | NR | |
| 10 | Elena Fidatov | ROM | 15:12,58 | ||
| 11 | Sally Barsosio | KEN | 15:39,57 | ||
| 12 | Michiko Shimizu | JPN | 15:45,30 | ||
| 13 | Florence Barsosio Jepkemoi | KEN | 15:56,96 | ||
| Gina Procaccio | USA | DNF | |||
| Olga Churbanova | RUS | DNF |