| Women 800m Freestyle Swimming V World Championship 1986 Madrid, Spain - Wednesday, 20th August - Gold Medal: Astrid Strauss, East Germany | 
| | | Final |  | time |  | gap | L | ag | pts |  | 1. Astrid Strauss |  East Germany | 8:28.24 |  |  | 6 | 17 | 945 |  | 2. Katja Hartmann |  East Germany | 8:28.44 |  | +0.20s | 4 |  | 944 |  | 3. Debbie Babashoff |  United States | 8:34.04 |  | +5.80s | 3 |  | 914 |  | 4. Julie McDonald |  Australia | 8:36.82 |  | +8.58s | 2 | 16 | 899 |  | 5. Sarah Hardcastle |  Great Britain | 8:36.97 |  | +8.73s | 5 | 17 | 898 |  | 6. Tami Bruce |  United States | 8:45.50 |  | +17.26s | 8 | 19 | 855 |  | 7. Jolande Van Der Meer |  Netherlands | 8:47.26 |  | +19.02s | 1 | 21 | 837 |  | 8. Stela Marian Pura |  Romania | 8:50.68 |  | +22.44s | 7 | 15 | 830 | 
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 | Heats - Wednesday, 20th August |  | Best 8 times advanced to Final. | 
 | | Heat 5 |  | time |  | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 2. Sarah Hardcastle |  Great Britain | 8:37.45 |  | +0.46s | - | 17 | 1. |  | 3. Debbie Babashoff |  United States | 8:39.59 |  | +2.60s | - |  | 2. |  | 13.Karyn Faure |  France | 8:50.19 |  | +13.20s | - | 17 | 3. |  | 16.Annette Moller |  Sweden | 8:56.28 |  | +19.29s | - |  | 4. |  | 17.Antoaneta Strumenlieva |  Bulgaria | 8:57.12 |  | +20.13s | - | 18 | 5. |  | 24.Suzanne Nilsson |  Sweden | 9:05.21 |  | +28.22s | - | 19 | 6. |  | 25.Lisa Ann Wen |  Chinese Taipei | 9:10.21 |  | +33.22s | - | 21 | 7. | 
 | Heat 4 |  | time |  | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 4. Astrid Strauss |  East Germany | 8:39.62 |  | +2.63s | - | 17 | 1. |  | 7. Jolande Van Der Meer |  Netherlands | 8:46.67 |  | +9.68s | - | 21 | 2. |  | 10.Irene Dalby |  Norway | 8:49.25 |  | +12.26s | - | 15 | 3. |  | 22.Chantal Duck |  Belgium | 9:00.37 |  | +23.38s | - |  | 4. |  | -. Monica Olmi |  Hungary | DNS |  |  | - |  |  |  | -. Birgit Kowalczik |  West Germany | DNS |  |  | - |  |  |  | -. Marion Madine |  Ireland | DNS |  |  | - |  |  | 
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| | Heat 3 |  | time |  | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 1. Katja Hartmann |  East Germany | 8:36.99 |  |  | - |  | 1. |  | 14.Debby Wurzburger |  Canada | 8:51.16 |  | +14.17s | - | 16 | 2. |  | 20.Patricia Amorim |  Brazil | 8:58.24 |  | +21.25s | - | 17 | 3. |  | 21.Kim Milne |  Canada | 9:00.15 |  | +23.16s | - |  | 4. |  | 23.Monika Gyuro |  Hungary | 9:03.94 |  | +26.95s | - |  | 5. |  | 27.Alexandra Nogueira |  Portugal | 9:17.44 |  | +40.45s | - |  | 6. |  | 31.Beatriz Vilalta |  Dominicana | 10:10.59 |  | +1:33.60 | - |  | 7. | 
 |  | | Heat 2 |  | time |  | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 5. Julie McDonald |  Australia | 8:44.85 |  | +7.86s | - | 16 | 1. |  | 6. Stela Marian Pura |  Romania | 8:46.48 |  | +9.49s | - | 15 | 2. |  | 9. Isabelle Arnould |  Belgium | 8:48.61 |  | +11.62s | - | 15 | 3. |  | 15.Pernille Nimb |  Denmark | 8:54.09 |  | +17.10s | - |  | 4. |  | 18.Karen Mellor |  Great Britain | 8:57.31 |  | +20.32s | - | 17 | 5. |  | 28.Africa D Gonzalez |  Venezuela | 9:40.83 |  | +1:03.84 | - |  | 6. |  | 29.Natasha Aguilar |  Costa Rica | 9:44.31 |  | +1:07.32 | - | 16 | 7. | 
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| | Heat 1 |  | time |  | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 8. Tami Bruce |  United States | 8:48.55 |  | +11.56s | - | 19 | 1. |  | 11.Andrea Orosz |  Hungary | 8:49.50 |  | +12.51s | - | 19 | 2. |  | 12.Tanya Vannini |  Italy | 8:49.71 |  | +12.72s | - | 17 | 3. |  | 19.Nadia Kruger |  Switzerland | 8:57.95 |  | +20.96s | - | 18 | 4. |  | 26.Cristiane Fanzeres |  Brazil | 9:13.16 |  | +36.17s | - |  | 5. |  | 30.Hsu-Hsiu Ping |  Chinese Taipei | 9:44.56 |  | +1:07.57 | - |  | 6. |  | -. Susie Baumer |  Australia | DNS |  |  | - |  |  | 
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