| Final 20.45h | time | L | | 1. Daimi Pernia |  CUB | 52.89s | 5 | | 2. Nezha Bidouane |  MAR | 52.90s | 4 | | 3. Deon Hemmings |  JAM | 53.16s | 3 | | 4. Andrea Blackett |  BAR | 53.36s | 6 | | 5. Sandra Cummings-Glover |  USA | 53.65s | 1 | | 6. Michelle Johnson | USA | 54.23s | 2 | | 7. Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova |  UKR | 54.33s | 7 | | 8. Debbie-Ann Parris | JAM | 56.24s | 8 |
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| Heat 1 19.55h | time | L | | 1. Deon Hemmings | JAM | 54.00s | 3 | | 2. Andrea Blackett | BAR | 54.18s | 6 | | 3. Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | UKR | 54.55s | 4 | | 4. Michelle Johnson | USA | 54.67s | 5 | | 5. Mame Tacko Diouf |  SEN | 55.17s | 7 | | 6. Sinead Dudgeon |  GBR | 55.69s | 2 | | 7. Yekaterina Bakhvalova |  RUS | 55.76s | 8 | | 8. Ulrike Urbansky |  GER | 55.81s | 1 |
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| Heat 2 20.02h | time | L | | 1. Nezha Bidouane | MAR | 53.95s | 6 | | 2. Daimi Pernia | CUB | 53.96s | 3 | | 3. Sandra Cummings-Glover | USA | 54.17s | 4 | | 4. Debbie-Ann Parris | JAM | 54.81s | 5 | | 5. Judit Szekeres |  HUN | 54.86s | 7 | | 6. Susan Smith-Walsh |  IRL | 55.20s | 1 | | 7. Natalya Torshina |  KZK | 55.26s | 8 | | 8. Monica Niederstatter |  ITA | 55.57s | 2 |
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| Heat 1 10.55h | time | L | | 1. Andrea Blackett | BAR | 54.74s | 8 | | 2. Daimi Pernia | CUB | 54.88s | 7 | | 3. Judit Szekeres | HUN | 55.04s | 2 | | 4. MameTacko Diouf | SEN | 55.30s | 5 | | 5. Ann Mercken |  BEL | 55.84s | 6 | | 6. Natasha Danvers | GBR | 56.22s | 4 | | 7. Delfina Joaquim |  ANO | 59.34s | 3 |
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| Heat 2 11.03h | time | L | | 1. Nezha Bidouane | MAR | 54.64s | 5 | | 2. Debbie-Ann Parris | JAM | 55.35s | 3 | | 3. Sinead Dudgeon | GBR | 55.38s | 7 | | 4. Joanna Hayes | USA | 55.38s | 2 | | 5. Gudrun Arnardottir |  ISL | 55.45s | 8 | | 6. Frida Johansson-Svensson |  SWE | 55.59s | 6 | | 7. Olga Dor-Dogadedko |  ISR | 57.23s | 4 |
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| Heat 3 11.11h | time | L | | 1. Sandra Cummings-Glover | USA | 54.47s | 3 | | 2. Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | UKR | 54.61s | 5 | | 3. Yekaterina Bakhvalova | RUS | 54.65s | 7 | | 4. Ulrike Urbansky | GER | 54.67s | 2 | | 5. Monica Niederstatter | ITA | 55.10s | 4 | | 6. Mary-Estelle Kapalu |  VAN | 1:01.86 | 6 | | -. Karlene Haughton |  CAN | DQ | 8 |
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| Heat 4 11.19h | time | L | | 1. Deon Hemmings | JAM | 54.27s | 5 | | 2. Michelle Johnson | USA | 54.79s | 8 | | 3. Natalya Torshina | KZK | 54.95s | 2 | | 4. Susan Smith-Walsh | IRL | 55.06s | 3 | | 5. Keri Maddox | GBR | 55.33s | 7 | | 6. Petra Soderstrom |  FIN | 56.93s | 6 | | 7. Ieva Zunda |  LAT | 57.90s | 4 |
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