| 1 | Rossitza Stamenova | BUL | 52,69 | Q |
| 2 | Judit Forgacs | HUN | 52,83 | Q |
| 3 | Esmie Lawrence | CAN | 52,85 | Q |
| 4 | Marzena Wojdecka | POL | 53,27 | |
| 5 | Charmaine Crooks | CAN | 53,53 | |
| 6 | Marina Stepanova | URS | DNS |
| 1 | Sabine Busch | GDR | 52,27 | Q |
| 2 | Lillie King-Leatherwood | USA | 52,74 | Q |
| 3 | Olga Nasarova | URS | 52,88 | Q |
| 4 | Petra Müller | GDR | 52,92 | |
| 5 | Christina Perez | ESP | 53,36 | |
| 6 | Airat Bakare | NGR | 54,12 |