Heats

First 2 from each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Ewa Kasprzyk	Poland	23.10	Q
2	2	Tatyana Papilina	Soviet Union	23.14	Q
3	3	Galina Malchugina	Soviet Union	23.30	Q
4	1	Silke Knoll	West Germany	23.39	Q
5	4	Ingrid Auerswald	East Germany	23.40	Q
6	3	Tsvetanka Ilieva	Bulgaria	23.45	Q
7	2	Marie-José Pérec	France	23.59	Q
8	4	Els Vader	Netherlands	23.68	q
9	1	Regula Aebi	Switzerland	23.75	Q
10	2	Blanca Lacambra	Spain	23.77	q
11	4	Irma Könye	Hungary	23.79	q
12	1	Kornelija Šinković	Yugoslavia	23.84	q
13	2	Andrea Thomas	West Germany	23.87
14	3	Sisko Hanhijoki	Finland	24.10
15	2	Tarja Leveelahti	Finland	24.11
16	3	Marina Skourti	Greece	24.12
17	3	Lucrécia Jardim	Portugal	24.47
18	3	Erika Szopori	Hungary	24.52
19	4	Vivienne McGoldrick	Ireland	24.76
20	1	Semra Aksu	Turkey	24.95

Semifinals

First 3 from each semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Ewa Kasprzyk	Poland	23.06	Q
2	2	Silke Knoll	West Germany	23.13	Q
3	2	Tatyana Papilina	Soviet Union	23.18	Q
4	1	Ingrid Auerswald	East Germany	23.26	Q
5	1	Galina Malchugina	Soviet Union	23.30	Q
5	2	Tsvetanka Ilieva	Bulgaria	23.30	Q
7	1	Kornelija Šinković	Yugoslavia	23.46	NR
8	2	Irma Könye	Hungary	23.66
9	2	Blanca Lacambra	Spain	23.79
10	2	Marie-José Pérec	France	24.26
	1	Regula Aebi	Switzerland	DQ
	1	Els Vader	Netherlands	DNS

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Ewa Kasprzyk	Poland	22.69	NR
	Tatyana Papilina	Soviet Union	22.79
	Silke Knoll	West Germany	23.12
4	Tsvetanka Ilieva	Bulgaria	23.17
5	Ingrid Auerswald	East Germany	23.25
6	Galina Malchugina	Soviet Union	23.42