| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 | Anne Marie Letko-Lauck |
USA |
32:26.22 Q |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Huandi Zhong |
CHN |
32:26.40 Q |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | Maria Guida |
ITA |
32:26.60 Q |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | Tegla Loroupe |
KEN |
32:26.67 Q |
| 5 | 5 | 2 | Izumi Maki |
JPN |
32:26.89 Q |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | Sally Barsosio |
KEN |
32:27.99 Q |
| 7 | 6 | 2 | Elana Meyer |
RSA |
32:28.02 Q |
| 8 | 2 | 1 | Lynn Jennings |
USA |
32:28.30 Q |
| 9 | 3 | 1 | Junxia Wang |
CHN |
32:28.35 Q |
| 10 | 4 | 1 | Albertina Dias |
POR |
32:28.39 Q |
| 11 | 5 | 1 | Conceição Ferreira |
POR |
32:28.42 Q |
| 12 | 6 | 1 | Naomi Yoshida |
JPN |
32:28.66 Q |
| 13 | 7 | 2 | Fernanda Ribeiro |
POR |
32:29.21 Q |
| 14 | 7 | 1 | Carmen de Oliveira |
BRA |
32:29.48 Q |
| 15 | 8 | 1 | Uta Pippig |
GER |
32:31.90 Q |
| 16 | 9 | 1 | Iulia Olteanu |
ROU |
32:32.51 Q |
| 17 | 10 | 1 | Olga Appell |
MEX |
32:34.43 Q |
| 18 | 8 | 2 | Päivi Tikkanen |
FIN |
32:51.72 Q |
| 19 | 9 | 2 | Kathrin Wessel |
GER |
32:52.06 Q |
| 20 | 11 | 1 | Rosario Murcia |
FRA |
32:56.24 q |
| 21 | 10 | 2 | Suzana Ciric |
SCG |
32:58.38 Q |
| 22 | 11 | 2 | Catherina McKiernan |
IRL |
33:00.38 q |
| 23 | 12 | 2 | Gitte Karlshøj |
DEN |
33:05.13 q |
| 24 | 12 | 1 | Elaine Van Blunk |
USA |
33:06.44 q |
| 25 | 13 | 2 | MarÃa Isabel Juárez |
MEX |
33:17.94 q |
| 26 | 13 | 1 | Julia Sakara |
ZIM |
33:20.16 |
| 27 | 14 | 2 | Berhane Adere |
ETH |
33:20.62 |
| 28 | 14 | 1 | Junko Kataoka |
JPN |
33:21.31 |
| 29 | 15 | 1 | Viktoriya Nenasheva |
RUS |
33:23.19 |
| 30 | 16 | 1 | Lisa Harvey |
CAN |
33:24.66 |
| 31 | 17 | 1 | Vikki McPherson |
GBR |
33:49.51 |
| 32 | 15 | 2 | Martha Tenorio |
ECU |
33:50.68 |
| 33 | 16 | 2 | Lesley Morton |
NZL |
33:54.39 |
| 34 | 18 | 1 | Jayanthi Palaniappan |
MAS |
33:56.72 |
| 35 | 19 | 1 | Barbara Moore |
NZL |
34:38.27 |
| 36 | 17 | 2 | Marilu Salazar |
PER |
34:58.62 |
| 37 | 20 | 1 | Aura Morales |
GUA |
36:06.02 |
| 38 | 18 | 2 | Gulsara Dadabaeva |
TJK |
39:30.28 |
| 39 | 19 | 2 | Tevdenshigmed Enh-Od |
MGL |
40:32.86 |
| 2 | Ningning Ma |
CHN |
DNS | ||
| 2 | Tamara Koba |
UKR |
DNS | ||
| 1 | Martha Ernstsdóttir |
ISL |
DNS |