| Final | | time | | | 1. Verona Bernard-Elder |  Great Britain | 52.68s | HeatF W400m | | 2. Nadezhda Ilyina |  Soviet Union | 53.21s | HeatF W400m | | 3. Inta Kļimoviča | Soviet Union | 53.91s | HeatF W400m | | 4. Lyudmila Aksyonova | Soviet Union | 54.01s | HeatF W400m |
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Heats - Saturday, 8th March | | Winners of each Heat and next Best 2 advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Verona Bernard-Elder | Great Britain | 53.99s | Q | | 2. Lyudmila Aksyonova | Soviet Union | 54.19s | q | | 5. Danuta Piecyk |  Poland | 55.55s | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 3. Nadezhda Ilyina | Soviet Union | 54.29s | Q | | 4. Inta Kļimoviča | Soviet Union | 54.48s | q | | -. Yordanka Filipova |  Bulgaria | DNF | |
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