| 1 | Bonnie Blair (Senior) | USA | 40.33 | TR | - |
| 2 | Qiaobo Ye (Senior) | CHN | 40.51 | | +0.180 |
| 3 | Christa Luding (Senior) | GER | 40.57 | | +0.240 |
| 4 | Monique Garbrecht (Neo) | GER | 40.63 | | +0.300 |
| 5 | Christine Aaftink (Senior) | NED | 40.66 | | +0.330 |
| 6 | Susan Auch (Senior) | CAN | 40.83 | | +0.500 |
| 7 | Kyuoko Shimazaki (Neo) | JPN | 40.98 | | +0.650 |
| 8 | Angela Hauck (Senior) | GER | 41.10 | | +0.770 |
| 9 | Seon-Hee Yoo (Senior) | KOR | 41.28 | SB | +0.950 |
| 10 | Anke Baier (Neo) | GER | 41.30 | | +0.970 |
| 11 | Herma Emmens-Meijer (Neo) | NED | 41.31 | | +0.980 |
| 12 | Seiko Hashimoto (Senior) | JPN | 41.32 | | +0.990 |
| 13 | Ruihong Xue (Senior) | CHN | 41.47 | SB | +1.140 |
| 14 | Catriona LeMay (Neo) | CAN | 41.59 | | +1.260 |
| 15 | Natalja Polozkova-Kozlova (Neo) | RUS | 41.61 | NR | +1.280 |
| 16 | Oksana Ravilova (Senior) | RUS | 41.73 | | +1.400 |
| 17 | Kristen Talbot (Neo) | USA | 41.77 | SB | +1.440 |
| 18 | Shelley Rhead (Senior) | CAN | 41.83 | | +1.500 |
| 19 | Yuexi Liu (Neo) | CHN | 41.85 | PB | +1.520 |
| 20 | Edel Therese Høiseth (Senior) | NOR | 41.89 | SB | +1.560 |
| 21 | Mihaela Dascălu (Neo) | ROU | 41.90 | | +1.570 |
| 22 | Peggy Clasen (Neo) | USA | 41.95 | | +1.620 |
| 23 | Noriko Miyaji (Senior) | JPN | 41.97 | | +1.640 |
| 24 | Yoko Fukazawa (Neo) | JPN | 42.18 | | +1.850 |
| 25 | Hwa-Seon Song (Senior) | PRK | 42.23 | | +1.900 |
| 26 | Michelle Kline (Neo) | USA | 42.41 | | +2.080 |
| 27 | Chang-Suk Chong (B2) | PRK | 42.45 | TRJ | +2.120 |
| 28 | Chun-Wol Kim (B2) | PRK | 42.47 | SB | +2.140 |
| 29 | Jelena Tjushnjakova (Senior) | RUS | 42.65 | | +2.320 |
| 30 | Cerasela Simona Hordobeţiu (Neo) | ROU | 42.68 | | +2.350 |
| 31 | Ljudmila Prokasjeva (Neo) | KAZ | 43.19 | | +2.860 |
| 32 | Krisztina Egyed (C2) | HUN | 43.39 | NRJ | +3.060 |
| DQ | Xiuli Wang (Senior) | CHN | DQ | | - |
| DQ | Sandra Voetelink (Neo) | NED | DQ | | - |