| Final | time | L | gap | | 1. Barbara Krause |  GDR | 56.55s | 5 | | | 2. Enith Brigitha |  NED | 57.09s | 4 | +1.54s | | 3. Petra Priemer | GDR | 57.20s | 3 | +1.65s | | 4. Jutta Weber |  FRG | 58.13s | 6 | +1.58s | | 5. Lene Jenssen |  NOR | 58.19s | 7 | +1.64s | | 6. Guri Kogstad | NOR | 58.23s | 2 | +1.68s | | 7. Cheryl Brazendale |  GBR | 58.64s | 1 | +2.09s | | 8. Ineke Ran | NED | 58.75s | 8 | +2.20s |
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Heats - Thursday, 18th August |
| Heat 1 | time | Rk. | | 1. Petra Priemer | GDR | 57.42s | 3. | | 2. Guri Kogstad | NOR | 57.78s | 5. | | 3. Cheryl Brazendale | GBR | 58.24s | 7. | | 4. Karin Seick | FRG | 59.21s | 10. | | 5. Radosveta Chinkova |  BUL | 1:00.08 | 14. | | 6. Cinzia Savi-Scarponi |  ITA | 1:00.86 | 15. | | 7. Paivi Kauhaniemi |  FIN | 1:02.21 | 18. |
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| Heat 2 | time | Rk. | | 1. Enith Brigitha | NED | 56.71s | 1. | | 2. Ineke Ran | NED | 58.30s | 8. | | 3. Larisa Tsareva |  RUS | 58.55s | 9. | | 4. Ylva Persson |  SWE | 59.87s | 13. | | 5. Daniela Geordescu |  ROU | 1:00.93 | 16. | | 6. Ysamine Kummer |  LUX | 1:02.41 | 20. |
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| Heat 3 | time | Rk. | | 1. Barbara Krause | GDR | 56.73s | 2. | | 2. Jutta Weber | FRG | 57.77s | 4. | | 3. Lene Jenssen | NOR | 58.16s | 6. | | 4. Vanessa Bullock | GBR | 59.45s | 11. | | 5. Geert Boekhoult |  BEL | 59.74s | 12. | | 6. Heidi Koch |  AUT | 1:01.79 | 17. | | 7. Yordana Penina | BUL | 1:02.27 | 19. |
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