| Final | | time | | | 1. Verona Bernard |  Great Britain | 53.04s | WB | | 2. Waltraud Dietsch |  East Germany | 53.35s | | | 3. Renate Siebach | East Germany | 53.49s | | | 4. Christel Frese |  West Germany | 53.78s | |
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| | First 2 from each Semi advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | | time | | | 1. Verona Bernard | Great Britain | 53.35s | Q | | 2. Waltraud Dietsch | East Germany | 53.44s | Q | | 3. Erika Weinstein | West Germany | 54.23s | | | 4. Lilyana Todorova |  Bulgaria | 54.26s | |
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| Semi 2 | | time | | | 5. Renate Siebach | East Germany | 54.52s | Q | | 6. Christel Frese | West Germany | 54.71s | Q | | 7. Danuta Piecyk |  Poland | 54.87s | | | 8. Chantal Jouvhomme |  France | 55.09s | |
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| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Verona Bernard | Great Britain | 53.98s | Q | | 2. Renate Siebach | East Germany | 54.30s | Q | | 4. Karoline Käfer |  Austria | 54.31s | NR | | 6. Chantal Leclerc | France | 54.69s | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 2. Christel Frese | West Germany | 54.30s | Q | | 5. Lilyana Todorova | Bulgaria | 54.56s | Q | | 9. Nicole Duclos | France | 55.17s | | | 12.Lea Alaerts |  Belgium | 55.75s | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 7. Erika Weinstein | West Germany | 54.76s | Q | | 11.Chantal Jouvhomme | France | 55.65s | Q | | 14.Nina Zyuskova |  Soviet Union | 56.32s | |
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| Heat 4 | | time | | | 8. Danuta Piecyk | Poland | 55.14s | Q | | 10.Waltraud Dietsch | East Germany | 55.28s | Q | | 13.Josefina Salgado |  Spain | 56.04s | NR |
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