| Final | time | | 1. Ann-Louise Skoglund |  SWE | 54.58s | | 2. Petra Pfaff |  GDR | 54.90s | | 3. Chantal Rega |  FRA | 54.94s | | 4. Anna Kastetskaya |  URS | 55.09s | | 5. Yelena Filipishina | URS | 55.09s | | 6. Birgit Uibel | GDR | 55.70s | | 7. Jekaterina Fesenko | URS | 55.86s | | 8. Genowefa Blaszak |  POL | 56.89s |
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| | | First 4 progress to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Chantal Réga | FRA | 55.73s | | 2. Birgit Uibel | GDR | 55.86s | | 3. Yelena Filipichina | URS | 55.95s | | 4. Genowefa Błaszak | POL | 56.73s | | 5. Marlies Gutewort |  FRG | 57.34s | | 6. Yvette Wray |  GBR | 57.81s | | 7. Rosa Colorado |  ESP | 58.91s | | 8. Cristeana Cojocaru |  ROU | 59.00s |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Anna Kastetskaya | URS | 55.72s | | 2. Petra Pfaff | GDR | 55.81s | | 3. Ann-Louise Skoglund | SWE | 55.96s | | 4. Yekaterina Fesenko | URS | 56.49s | | 5. Mary Wagner | FRG | 56.74s | | 6. Giuseppina Cirulli |  ITA | 56.35s | | 7. Montserrat Pujol | ESP | 58.06s | | 8. Helle Sichlau |  DEN | 58.91s |
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