| 1 | Charity Opara | NGR | 51,26 | Q | |
| 2 | Jearl Miles Clark | USA | 51,55 | Q | |
| 3 | Ionela Târlea | ROM | 52,10 | Q | NR |
| 4 | Tatyana Movchan | UKR | 52,48 | ||
| 5 | Hana Benešová | CZE | 52,75 | ||
| 6 | Olga Kotlyarova | RUS | 53,17 |
| 1 | Sandie Richards | JAM | 51,53 | Q |
| 2 | Grit Breuer | GER | 52,16 | Q |
| 3 | Helena Fuchsová | CZE | 52,43 | Q |
| 4 | Natasha Kaiser-Brown | USA | 52,82 | |
| 5 | Phylis Smith | GBR | 52,86 | |
| 6 | Olabisi Afolabi | NGR | 53,33 |