| Final 19:00 | time | L | | 1. Tatyana Ledovskaya | URS | 53.11s | 6 | | 2. Sally Gunnell | GBR | 53.16s | 5 | | 3. Janeene Vickers | USA | 53.47s | 7 | | 4. Sandra Farmer-Patrick | USA | 53.95s | 4 | | 5. Kim Batten | USA | 53.98s | 8 | | 6. Anita Protti | SUI | 54.25s | 3 | | 7. Heike Meissner | GER | 55.26s | 1 | | 8. Margarita Khromova-Ponomaryova | URS | 55.27s | 2 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Anita Protti | SUI | 54.26s | 3 | | 2. Sandra Farmer-Patrick | USA | 54.44s | 2 | | 3. Janeene Vickers | USA | 54.63s | 4 | | 4. Heike Meissner | GER | 54.77s | 1 | | 5. Gowry Retchakan-Hodge | GBR | 54.88s | 5 | | 6. Frida Johansson | SWE | 55.36s | 6 | | 7. Anna Chuprina-Knoroz | URS | 55.81s | 8 | | 8. Nezha Bidouane | MAR | 56.62s | 7 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Sally Gunnell | GBR | 54.24s | 4 | | 2. Tatyana Ledovskaya | URS | 54.36s | 6 | | 3. Kim Batten | USA | 54.70s | 3 | | 4. Margarita Khromova-Ponomaryova | URS | 55.22s | 7 | | 5. Monica Westen | SWE | 55.51s | 2 | | 6. Irmgard Trojer | ITA | 55.66s | 5 | | 7. Sabine Busch | GER | 55.93s | 8 | | 8. Gudrun Abt | GER | 56.17s | 1 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Janeene Vickers | USA | 54.85s | 7 | | 2. Tatyana Ledovskaya | URS | 54.94s | 2 | | 3. Gowry Retchakan-Hodge | GBR | 54.95s | 1 | | 4. Frida Johansson | SWE | 55.60s | 3 | | 5. Ann Maenhout | BEL | 58.39s | 4 | | 6. Marie Womplou | CIV | 58.80s | 6 | | 7. Elma Muros-Posadas | PHI | 59.90s | 5 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Anita Protti | SUI | 54.53s | 6 | | 2. Margarita Khromova-Ponomaryova | URS | 55.87s | 4 | | 3. Gudrun Abt | GER | 56.16s | 7 | | 4. Lency Montelier | CUB | 57.72s | 3 | | 5. Yanhong Huang | CHN | 58.05s | 2 | | 6. Omotayo Akinremi | NGR | 58.25s | 5 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Sally Gunnell | GBR | 54.70s | 3 | | 2. Anna Chuprina-Knoroz | URS | 56.15s | 5 | | 3. Sabine Busch | GER | 56.37s | 2 | | 4. Donalda Duprey | CAN | 56.38s | 6 | | 5. Lyn Massey | NZL | 57.55s | 7 | | 6. Junko Hasegawa | JPN | 59.71s | 1 | | 7. Gretha Tromp | NED | 1:00.45 | 4 |
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| Heat 4 | time | L | | 1. Irmgard Trojer | ITA | 55.77s | 4 | | 2. Kim Batten | USA | 55.77s | 6 | | 3. Monica Westen | SWE | 55.79s | 3 | | 4. Deon Hemmings | JAM | 57.13s | 5 | | 5. Nicoleta Carutasu | ROM | 57.26s | 7 | | 6. Liliana Chala | ECU | 1:01.49 | 2 | | 7. Mirenda Francourt | SEY | 1:05.92 | 1 |
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| Heat 5 | time | L | | 1. Sandra Farmer-Patrick | USA | 55.81s | 6 | | 2. Heike Meissner | GER | 56.00s | 3 | | 3. Nezha Bidouane | MAR | 56.35s | 1 | | 4. Rosey Edeh | CAN | 57.32s | 5 | | 5. Jacqui Parker | GBR | 57.81s | 4 | | 6. Reawadee Srithoa | THA | 58.74s | 2 | | 7. Mari Bjone | NOR | 59.00s | 7 |
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