| 1 | Grit Breuer | GER | 50,88 | Q |
| 2 | Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 51,44 | Q |
| 3 | Sandie Richards | JAM | 51,54 | q |
| 4 | Ester Goossens | NED | 52,09 | |
| 5 | Alina Ripanu | ROM | 53,29 | |
| Natalya Nasarova | RUS | DNF |
| 1 | Jearl Miles-Clark | USA | 50,83 | Q |
| 2 | Ana Guevara | MEX | 50,93 | Q |
| 3 | Deon Hemmings | JAM | 51,47 | q |
| 4 | Olga Kotlyarova | RUS | 51,69 | |
| 5 | Charity Opara | NGR | 52,31 | |
| 6 | Virna de Angeli | ITA | 52,95 |