| 1 | Andrea Schöne-Mitscherlich (Neo) | GDR | 4:24.79 | OR, TR | - |
| 2 | Karin Enke (Neo) | GDR | 4:26.33 | SB | +1.540 |
| 3 | Gabi Schönbrunn (Neo) | GDR | 4:33.13 | | +8.340 |
| 4 | Olga Plesjkova (Senior) | URS | 4:34.42 | | +9.630 |
| 5 | Yvonne van Gennip (Neo) | NED | 4:34.80 | SB | +10.010 |
| 6 | Mary Docter (Neo) | USA | 4:36.25 | | +11.460 |
| 7 | Bjørg Eva Jensen (Senior) | NOR | 4:36.28 | | +11.490 |
| 8 | Valentina Lalenkova-Golovenkina (Senior) | URS | 4:37.36 | | +12.570 |
| 9 | Natalja Petrusjova (Senior) | URS | 4:39.36 | SB | +14.570 |
| 10 | Nancy Swider (Senior) | USA | 4:40.10 | SB | +15.310 |
| 11 | Annette Carlén-Karlsson (Senior) | SWE | 4:40.36 | | +15.570 |
| 12 | Janet Goldman (A2) | USA | 4:42.49 | | +17.700 |
| 13 | Thea Limbach (Senior) | NED | 4:42.84 | SB | +18.050 |
| 14 | Erwina Rys-Ferens (Senior) | POL | 4:42.90 | | +18.110 |
| 15 | Natalie Grenier (Neo) | CAN | 4:48.60 | | +23.810 |
| 16 | Gum-Hyon Park (A2) | PRK | 4:49.26 | SB | +24.470 |
| 17 | Chun-Ok Han (A1) | PRK | 4:51.91 | SB | +27.120 |
| 18 | Sigrid Smuda (Senior) | FRG | 4:53.22 | | +28.430 |
| 19 | Seiko Hashimoto (A2) | JPN | 4:53.38 | | +28.590 |
| 20 | Chang-Hae Kim (B1) | PRK | 4:58.41 | PB | +33.620 |
| 21 | Guifang Wang (Neo) | CHN | 4:59.32 | SB | +34.530 |
| 22 | Xiuli Wang (A1) | CHN | 5:00.15 | | +35.360 |
| 23 | Meiyu Kong (Senior) | CHN | 5:03.43 | | +38.640 |
| 24 | Kyeong-Ja Lee (Neo) | KOR | 5:07.12 | | +42.330 |
| 25 | Ria Visser (Neo) | NED | 5:14.80 | | +50.010 |
| 26 | Bibija Kerla (Senior) | YUG | 5:37.67 | NR | +1.12.880 |