| 1 | USA | USA | 42,34 | Q | |
| (Michelle Finn, Sheila Echols, | |||||
| Wendy Vereen, Gail Devers) | |||||
| 2 | Jamaika | JAM | 42,40 | Q | |
| (Michelle Freeman, Dahlia Duhaney, | |||||
| Nicole Mitchell, Juliet Campbell) | |||||
| 3 | Deutschland | GER | 42,81 | Q | |
| (Andrea Philipp, Bettina Zipp, | |||||
| Silke-Beate Knoll, Melanie Paschke) | |||||
| 4 | Finnland | FIN | 43,63 | q | |
| (Anu Pirttimaa, Sisko Markkanen-Hanhijoki, | |||||
| Sanna Hernesniemi-Kyllönen, Marja Tennivaara-Salmela) | |||||
| 5 | Taiwan | TPE | 44,59 | NR | |
| (Kao Yu-Chuan, Chen Shu-Chen, | |||||
| Hsu Pei-Chin, Wang Huei-Chen) | |||||
| 6 | Thailand | THA | 44,85 | ||
| (Naparat Suajongprue, Dokjun Dokdung, | |||||
| Ratjai Sripet, Kwuanfha Inchareon) |
| 1 | Rußland | RUS | 42,39 | Q | NR |
| (Olga Bogoslovskaya, Galina Malchugina, | |||||
| Natalya Pomoshchnikova-Voronova, Marina Trandenkova) | |||||
| 2 | Frankreich | FRA | 43,31 | Q | |
| (Patricia Girard, Odiah Sidibe, | |||||
| Valerie Jean-Charles, Marie-José Pérec) | |||||
| 3 | Kuba | CUB | 43,48 | Q | |
| (Miriam Ferrer, Idalmis Bonne, | |||||
| Julia Duporty, Liliana Allen) | |||||
| 4 | Großbritannien | GBR | 43,65 | q | |
| (Marcia Richardson, Beverly Kinch, | |||||
| Simmone Jacobs, Paula Dunn-Thomas) | |||||
| 5 | Kanada | CAN | 44,36 | ||
| (Camille Noel, Stacey Bowen, | |||||
| Sonia Paquette, Donalda Duprey) |