| 1 | Gabriela Szabo | ROM | 15:32,50 | Q | |
| 2 | Irina Mikitenko | GER | 15:32,55 | Q | |
| 3 | Mariya Pantyukhova | RUS | 15:33,98 | Q | |
| 4 | Marta Domínguez | ESP | 15:34,24 | Q | |
| 5 | Megumi Tanaka | JPN | 15:34,51 | Q | |
| 6 | Adriana Fernández | MEX | 15:37,79 | ||
| 7 | Werknesh Kidane | ETH | 15:38,12 | ||
| 8 | Annemari Sandell | FIN | 15:41,23 | ||
| 9 | Natalie Harvey | AUS | 15:41,55 | ||
| 10 | Sunita Rani | IND | 15:41,81 | NR | |
| 11 | Marina Bastos | POR | 15:48,51 | ||
| 12 | Amaia Piedra | ESP | 15:50,93 | ||
| 13 | Samukeliso Moyo | ZIM | 15:50,97 | ||
| 14 | Klara Kashapova | RUS | 15:52,06 | ||
| 15 | Khrysostomía Iakóvou | GRE | 15:59,76 | ||
| 16 | Zhor El Kamch | MAR | 16:06,20 | ||
| 17 | Fatima Maama-Yvelain | FRA | 16:09,85 | ||
| 18 | Amy Rudolph | USA | 16:24,31 | ||
| 19 | Nebiat Habtemariam | ERI | 18:02,28 | NR | |
| Jolanta Alendi | PAL | DNF | |||
| Kathy Butler | CAN | DNF | |||
| Asmae Laghzaoui | MAR | DNS |
| 1 | Yelena-Ebru Kopytova-Kavaklioglu | TUR | 15:17,90 | Q | NR |
| 2 | Zahra Ouaziz | MAR | 15:20,04 | Q | |
| 3 | Ayelech Worku | ETH | 15:20,17 | Q | |
| 4 | Michiko Shimizu | JPN | 15:24,85 | Q | |
| 5 | Julia Vaquero | ESP | 15:24,86 | Q | |
| 6 | Susanne Pumper | AUT | 15:25,48 | q | NR |
| 7 | Cheri Goddard-Kenah | USA | 15:25,54 | q | |
| 8 | Yamna Oubouhou-Belkacem | FRA | 15:25,85 | q | |
| 9 | Getenesh Urge | ETH | 15:27,59 | q | |
| 10 | Katalin Szentgyörgyi | HUN | 15:27,61 | q | |
| 11 | Helena Javornik | SLO | 15:28,41 | ||
| 12 | Ann Wamuchi | KEN | 15:29,01 | ||
| 13 | Wang Chunmei | CHN | 15:45,80 | ||
| 14 | Yoshiko Fujinaga | JPN | 15:51,52 | ||
| 15 | Olga Yegorova | RUS | 15:53,63 | ||
| 16 | Nora Leticia Rocha | MEX | 16:10,48 | ||
| 17 | Elva Dryer | USA | 16:15,70 | ||
| 18 | Kate Anderson | AUS | 16:34,68 | ||
| 19 | Giselle Camilleri | MLT | 17:18,31 | ||
| 20 | Sukhbaatar Erdenetuya | MGL | 18:47,34 | ||
| 21 | Ela Esperanza Obono | GEQ | 19:20,44 | ||
| Agnes Chikwakwa | MAW | DNS |