| 1 | Rußland | RUS | 3:24,51 | Q | |
| (Natalya Sharova, Yekaterina Bakhvalova, | |||||
| Tatyana Chebykina, Svetlana Goncharenko) | |||||
| 2 | Australien | AUS | 3:27,31 | Q | |
| (Tamsyn Lewis, Lee Naylor, | |||||
| Susan Andrews, Cathy Freeman) | |||||
| 3 | Kuba | CUB | 3:27,54 | q | |
| (Julia Duporty, Zulia Calatayud, | |||||
| Yupalis Diaz, Idalmis Bonne) | |||||
| 4 | Kanada | CAN | 3:28,47 | ||
| (Karlene Haughton, Ladonna Antoine, | |||||
| Candice Jones, Foy Williams) | |||||
| 5 | Senegal | SEN | 3:30,99 | NR | |
| (Aïda Diop, Mame Tacko Diouf, | |||||
| Aminata Diouf, Amy Mbacke Thiam) | |||||
| 6 | Spanien | ESP | 3:36,28 | ||
| (Elena Corcoles, Yolanda Reyes, | |||||
| Miriam Bravo, Lisette Ferri) |
| 1 | Deutschland | GER | 3:24,80 | Q | |
| (Anke Feller, Uta Rohländer, | |||||
| Anja Knippel, Anja Rücker) | |||||
| 2 | Tschechische Republik | CZE | 3:25,58 | Q | |
| (Jitka Burianová, Hana Benešová, | |||||
| Ludmila Formanová, Helena Dziurova-Fuchsová) | |||||
| 3 | Jamaika | JAM | 3:27,78 | q | |
| (Beverly Grant, Charmaine Howell, | |||||
| Tracey Barnes, Claudine Williams) | |||||
| 4 | Großbritannien | GBR | 3:27,99 | ||
| (Donna Fraser, Helen Frost, | |||||
| Michelle Thomas, Sinead Dudgeon) | |||||
| 5 | Kamerun | CMR | 3:33,51 | NR | |
| (Mireille Nguimgo, Myriam Mani, | |||||
| Stephanie Nicole Zanga, Claudine Komgang) | |||||
| 6 | Liberia | LBR | 3:55,30 | NR | |
| (Jocelyn Harris, Grace Dinkins, | |||||
| Joetta Dweh, Hannah Cooper) |
| 1 | USA | USA | 3:25,10 | Q |
| (Suziann Reid, Maicel Malone-Wallace, | ||||
| Andrea Anderson, Michele Collins) | ||||
| 2 | Italien | ITA | 3:31,67 | Q |
| (Danielle Perpoli, Patrizia Spuri, | ||||
| Monica Niederstatter, Virna De Angeli) | ||||
| 3 | Barbados | BAR | 3:34,37 | |
| (Andrea Blackett, Melissa Straker, | ||||
| Lucy-Ann Richards, Joanne Durant) | ||||
| 4 | Indien | IND | 3:36,54 | |
| (M. K. Asha, KuzhivilMathew Beenamol Kalayathum, | ||||
| Rosa Kutty, Jincy Philip) | ||||
| Rumänien | ROM | DNS | ||
| (Otilia Ruicu, Ionela Tirlea, | ||||
| Andrea Burlacu, Ana Maria Barbu) | ||||
| Nigeria | NGR | DNS | ||
| (Falilat Ogunkoya, Charity Opara, | ||||
| Olabisi Afolabi, Mabel Madojemu) |