| Final | time | L | | 1. Yekaterina Fesenko-Grun |  URS | 54.14s | | 2. Anna Ambraziene | URS | 54.15s | | 3. Ellen Neumann-Fiedler |  GDR | 54.55s | | 4. Petra Pfaff | GDR | 54.64s | | 5. Petra Krug | GDR | 54.76s | | 6. Ann-Louise Skoglund |  SWE | 54.80s | | 7. Susan Morley |  GBR | 56.04s | | 8. Cristieana Cojocaru-Matei |  ROU | 56.26s |
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| Semi 1 | time | L | | 1. Petra Pfaff | GDR | 55.77s | | 2. Yekaterina Fesenko-Grun | URS | 55.99s | | 3. Ann-Louise Skoglund | SWE | 56.01s | | 4. Susan Morley | GBR | 56.09s | | 5. Debbie Flintoff-King |  AUS | 56.63s | | 6. Gwen Wall |  CAN | 56.68s | | 7. Judi Brown-King |  USA | 57.98s | | -. Hilde Fredriksen |  NOR | DNS |
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| Semi 2 | time | L | | 1. Anna Ambraziene | URS | 55.18s | | 2. Ellen Neumann-Fiedler | GDR | 55.23s | | 3. Petra Krug | GDR | 55.98s | | 4. Cristieana Cojocaru-Matei | ROU | 56.71s | | 5. Sharrieffa Barksdale | USA | 56.81s | | 6. Nawal El Moutawakil |  MAR | 57.10s | | 7. Anna Filickova |  TCH | 57.64s | | 8. Christine Slythe | CAN | 58.53s |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Yekaterina Fesenko-Grun | URS | 56.43s | | 2. Ann-Louise Skoglund | SWE | 56.80s | | 3. Gwen Wall | CAN | 57.14s | | 4. Judi Brown-King | USA | 57.14s | | 5. Giuseppina Cirulli |  ITA | 57.43s | | 6. Rose Tata-Muya |  KEN | 58.09s | | 7. Guihua Liu |  CHN | 59.39s | | 8. Felicia Candelario |  DOM | 1:00.72 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Anna Ambraziene | URS | 56.30s | | 2. Susan Morley | GBR | 56.58s | | 3. Petra Krug | GDR | 56.87s | | 4. Anna Filickova | TCH | 57.09s | | 5. Ruth Kyalisima |  UGA | 57.58s | | 6. Helle Sichlau |  DEN | 57.90s | | 7. Tonja Brown | USA | 58.00s | | 8. Ovrill Dwyer-Brown |  JAM | 58.40s |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Nawal El Moutawakil | MAR | 56.52s | | 2. Petra Pfaff | GDR | 56.56s | | 3. Hilde Fredriksen | NOR | 56.66s | | 4. Christine Slythe | CAN | 57.40s | | 5. Sandra Farmer-Patrick | JAM | 57.97s | | 6. Verona Elder | GBR | 58.74s | | 7. Tuija Helander-Kuusisto |  FIN | 59.43s | | 8. Mary Wagner |  FRG | DNF |
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| Heat 4 | time | L | | 1. Debbie Flintoff-King | AUS | 56.47s | | 2. Cristieana Cojocaru-Matei | ROU | 56.49s | | 3. Ellen Neumann-Fiedler | GDR | 56.58s | | 4. Sharrieffa Barksdale | USA | 56.60s | | 5. Gladys Taylor | GBR | 58.25s | | 6. Andrea Page | CAN | 58.55s | | 7. Marcela Sevcikova | TCH | 1:00.34 |
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