| 1 | Renee Poetschka | AUS | 52,70 | Q |
| 2 | Kim Batten | USA | 52,77 | Q |
| 3 | Karin Janke | GER | 52,83 | |
| 4 | Regula Zürcher-Scalabrin | SUI | 53,76 |
| 1 | Sandie Richards | JAM | 51,86 | AR | Q |
| 2 | Tatyana Alekseyeva | RUS | 51,97 | Q | |
| 3 | Jillian Richardson-Briscoe | CAN | 52,15 | ||
| 4 | Ester Goossens | NED | 52,73 | NR |
| 1 | Jearl Miles Clark | USA | 51,78 | Q | |
| 2 | Sandra Myers | ESP | 52,10 | Q | |
| 3 | Tatyana Ledovskaya | BLR | 53,24 | NR | |
| 4 | Deon Hemmings | JAM | 53,59 | ||
| 5 | Donalda Duprey | CAN | 54,52 |