| 1 | Deutschland | GER | 3:24,70 | Q |
| (Anke Feller, Uta Rohländer, | ||||
| Anja Rücker, Grit Breuer) | ||||
| 2 | Tschechische Republik | CZE | 3:25,11 | Q |
| (Nadezda Kostovalová, Hana Benesová, | ||||
| Ludmila Formanová, Helena Fuchsová) | ||||
| 3 | Großbritannien | GBR | 3:25,78 | Q |
| (Allison Curbishley, Michelle Pierre, | ||||
| Michelle Thomas, Donna Fraser) | ||||
| 4 | Nigeria | NGR | 3:27,94 | q |
| (Doris Jacob, Olabisi Afolabi, | ||||
| Saidat Onanuga, Falilat Ogunkoya) | ||||
| 5 | Ungarn | HUN | 3:35,56 | |
| (Anamaria Bori, Barbara Petrahn, | ||||
| Alice Kun, Judit Szekeres) |
| 1 | USA | USA | 3:25,37 | Q |
| (Michelle Collins, Kim Graham, | ||||
| Natasha Kaiser-Brown, Maicel Malone-Wallace) | ||||
| 2 | Jamaika | JAM | 3:25,53 | Q |
| (Nadia G. Hutchinson, Lorraine Graham, | ||||
| Inez Turner, Sandie Richards) | ||||
| 3 | Rußland | RUS | 3:25,83 | Q |
| (Tatyana Chebykina, Yulia Tarasenko, | ||||
| Yekaterina Kulikova, Olga Kotlyarova) | ||||
| 4 | Italien | ITA | 3:30,34 | q |
| (Danielle Perpoli, Patrizia Spuri, | ||||
| Francesca Carbone, Virna de Angeli) | ||||
| 5 | Griechenland | GRE | 3:37,14 | |
| (Chrisoula Goudenoudi, Maria Pakhatouridou, | ||||
| Christina Panagou, Marina Vassarmidou) |