| 1 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | USA | 55,15 | Q |
| 2 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | UKR | 56,16 | Q |
| 3 | Natalya Torshina | KZK | 56,23 | Q |
| 4 | Monika Warnicka | POL | 56,88 | q |
| 5 | Olga M. Nazarova | RUS | 57,64 | q |
| 6 | Louise Fraser | GBR | 57,99 | |
| 7 | Asa Carlsson | SWE | 58,42 |
| 1 | Kim Batten | USA | 55,71 | Q |
| 2 | Ionela Tirlea | ROM | 58,47 | Q |
| 3 | Gudrún Arnardóttir | ISL | 58,57 | Q |
| 4 | Zhanna Sokolova | TJK | 1:13,16 | |
| Rosey Edeh | CAN | DNS | ||
| Pei-Chin Hsu | TPE | DQ | ||
| Tatyana Kurochkina | BLR | DQ |
| 1 | Deon Hemmings | JAM | 54,72 | Q |
| 2 | Silvia Rieger | GER | 55,75 | Q |
| 3 | Tatyana Ledovskaya | BLR | 56,03 | Q |
| 4 | Omolade Akinremi | NGR | 56,46 | q |
| 5 | Miriam Alonso | ESP | 58,36 | |
| Nezha Bidouane | MAR | DQ |
| 1 | Heike Meissner | GER | 55,95 | Q |
| 2 | Trevaia Williams-Davis | USA | 55,98 | Q |
| 3 | Karen Van Der Veen | RSA | 56,32 | Q |
| 4 | Irina Lenskaya | UKR | 57,52 | q |
| 5 | Debbie-Ann Parris | JAM | 57,83 | |
| 6 | Marie Womplou | CIV | 58,67 |
| 1 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | USA | 55,30 | Q |
| 2 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | UKR | 56,09 | Q |
| 3 | Natalya Torshina | KZK | 56,52 | Q |
| 4 | Heike Meissner | GER | 56,75 | Q |
| 5 | Monika Warnicka | POL | 56,88 | |
| 6 | Olga M. Nazarova | RUS | 56,89 | |
| 7 | Trevaia Williams-Davis | USA | 1:04,84 | |
| Karen Van Der Veen | RSA | DQ |
| 1 | Kim Batten | USA | 54,15 | Q |
| 2 | Deon Hemmings | JAM | 54,33 | Q |
| 3 | Silvia Rieger | GER | 55,69 | Q |
| 4 | Ionela Tirlea | ROM | 56,21 | Q |
| 5 | Omolade Akinremi | NGR | 57,07 | |
| 6 | Gudrún Arnardóttir | ISL | 57,29 | |
| 7 | Irina Lenskaya | UKR | 57,33 | |
| Tatyana Ledovskaya | BLR | DQ |