| 1 | Bjørg Eva Jensen (Neo) | NOR | 4:32.13 | OR, NR, TR | - |
| 2 | Sabine Becker (Neo) | GDR | 4:32.79 | SB | +0.660 |
| 3 | Beth Heiden (Neo) | USA | 4:33.77 | | +1.640 |
| 4 | Andrea Mitscherlich (A2) | GDR | 4:37.69 | TRJ | +5.560 |
| 5 | Erwina Rys-Ferens (Senior) | POL | 4:37.89 | NR | +5.760 |
| 6 | Mary Docter (A2) | USA | 4:39.29 | | +7.160 |
| 7 | Sylvia Filipsson (Senior) | SWE | 4:40.22 | | +8.090 |
| 8 | Natalja Petrusjova (Senior) | URS | 4:42.59 | | +10.460 |
| 9 | Olga Plesjkova (Senior) | URS | 4:43.11 | | +10.980 |
| 10 | Sarah Docter (B1) | USA | 4:43.30 | | +11.170 |
| 11 | Brenda Webster (A1) | CAN | 4:43.67 | | +11.540 |
| 12 | Sylvia Burka (Senior) | CAN | 4:44.22 | | +12.090 |
| 13 | Annie Borckink (Senior) | NED | 4:47.35 | SB | +15.220 |
| 14 | Sylvia Albrecht (B2) | GDR | 4:47.76 | SB | +15.630 |
| 15 | Anneli Repola-Risku (Senior) | FIN | 4:50.51 | | +18.380 |
| 16 | Sijtje van der Lende (M30) | NED | 4:51.53 | | +19.400 |
| 17 | Valentina Lalenkova-Golovenkina (Neo) | URS | 4:51.72 | | +19.590 |
| 18 | Annette Karlsson (Neo) | SWE | 4:52.70 | | +20.570 |
| 19 | Sigrid Smuda (Neo) | FRG | 4:53.55 | | +21.420 |
| 20 | Lisbeth Korsmo-Berg (M30) | NOR | 4:54.95 | | +22.820 |
| 21 | Miyoshi Kato (B2) | JPN | 4:57.39 | | +25.260 |
| 22 | Yeong-Hee Kim (Senior) | KOR | 4:58.41 | PB | +26.280 |
| 23 | Pat Durnin (Neo) | CAN | 4:58.42 | | +26.290 |
| 24 | Sung-Ae Lee (B2) | KOR | 4:58.77 | SB | +26.640 |
| 25 | Yuko Ota-Yaegashi (Neo) | JPN | 5:00.40 | | +28.270 |
| 26 | Amanda Horsepool (Neo) | GBR | 5:08.78 | | +36.650 |
| 27 | Meiyu Kong (Neo) | CHN | 5:08.90 | | +36.770 |
| 28 | Meiji Paio (Neo) | CHN | 5:19.07 | SB | +46.940 |
| DNS | Ria Visser (A1) | NED | DNS | | - |