| Final | time | L | | 1. Petra Thomer |  GDR | 8:39.32 | 5 | | 2. Annelies Maas |  NED | 8:39.33 | 4 | | 3. Marina Altmann | GDR | 8:52.94 | 3 | | 4. Agnes Jansen | NED | 8:58.27 | 7 | | 5. Carine Verbauwen |  BEL | 8:58.54 | 6 | | 6. Natalya Popova |  URS | 8:58.75 | 2 | | 7. Lindsay Benko |  GBR | 9:02.87 | 9 | | 8. Susanne Ackum |  SWE | 9:10.74 | 1 |
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Heats - Saturday, 20th August |
| Heat 1 | time | Rk. | | 1. Annelies Maas | NED | 8:49.50 | 1. | | 2. Natalya Popova | URS | 9:02.98 | 5. | | 3. Agnes Jansen | NED | 9:03.51 | 6. | | 4. Svetlana Yakovleva | URS | 9:09.33 | 9. | | 5. Angelika Sostmann |  FRG | 9:16.70 | 10. | | 6. Veronique Fernandez |  FRA | 9:31.92 | 13. | | 7. Anne Carey |  IRL | 9:45.08 | 14. |
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| Heat 2 | time | Rk. | | 1. Petra Thomer | GDR | 8:56.03 | 2. | | 2. Marina Altmann | GDR | 8:56.56 | 3. | | 3. Carine Verbauwen | BEL | 9:01.89 | 4. | | 4. Susanne Ackum | SWE | 9:05.32 | 7. | | 5. Lindsay Benko | GBR | 9:06.28 | 8. | | 6. Kicki Petterson | SWE | 9:17.25 | 11. | | 7. Barbara Gellrich | FRG | 9;18.38 | 12. |
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