| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Derartu Tulu |
ETH |
32:16.71 Q |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | Yvonne Murray |
GBR |
32:16.76 Q |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | Gete Wami |
ETH |
32:17.41 Q |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | Tegla Loroupe |
KEN |
32:17.92 Q |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | Elana Meyer |
RSA |
32:17.97 Q |
| 6 | 6 | 1 | Junko Kataoka |
JPN |
32:18.62 Q |
| 7 | 7 | 1 | Anne Marie Letko-Lauck |
USA |
32:19.57 Q |
| 8 | 8 | 1 | Lieve Slegers |
BEL |
32:21.29 Q |
| 9 | 9 | 1 | Jill Boltz |
GBR |
32:22.93 q |
| 10 | 1 | 2 | Fernanda Ribeiro |
POR |
32:33.87 Q |
| 11 | 3 | 2 | Lynn Jennings |
USA |
32:33.89 Q |
| 12 | 2 | 2 | Liz McColgan-Nuttall |
GBR |
32:33.89 Q |
| 13 | 4 | 2 | Maria Guida |
ITA |
32:34.28 Q |
| 14 | 5 | 2 | Albertina Dias |
POR |
32:34.44 Q |
| 15 | 10 | 1 | Conceição Ferreira |
POR |
32:34.62 q |
| 16 | 6 | 2 | Annmari Kiekara |
FIN |
32:35.05 Q |
| 17 | 7 | 2 | Hiromi Suzuki |
JPN |
32:39.92 Q |
| 18 | 8 | 2 | Marleen Renders |
BEL |
32:45.50 Q |
| 19 | 11 | 1 | Kathrin Wessel |
GER |
32:46.51 q |
| 20 | 9 | 2 | Alla Zhilyaeva |
RUS |
32:51.55 q |
| 21 | 10 | 2 | Yasuko Kimura |
JPN |
32:54.82 |
| 22 | 11 | 2 | Berhane Adere |
ETH |
33:14.76 |
| 23 | 12 | 2 | Carmen Fuentes |
ESP |
33:16.86 |
| 24 | 12 | 1 | Zhaoxia Dong |
CHN |
33:18.58 |
| 25 | 13 | 1 | Laurie Henes |
USA |
33:22.92 |
| 26 | 13 | 2 | Serap Aktas |
TUR |
34:19.25 |
| 27 | 14 | 2 | Carol Montgomery |
CAN |
34:23.16 |
| 28 | 14 | 1 | Martha Tenorio |
ECU |
34:23.76 |
| 29 | 15 | 1 | Nora Leticia Rocha |
MEX |
34:23.78 |
| 30 | 15 | 2 | Martha Ernstsdóttir |
ISL |
34:29.55 |
| 31 | 16 | 1 | Carol Galea |
MLT |
35:30.84 |
| 32 | 16 | 2 | Virginie Gloum |
CAF |
40:07.49 |
| 1 | Klara Kashapova |
RUS |
DNF | ||
| 2 | Catherina McKiernan |
IRL |
DNS |