Heat 1 | | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. Valeria Gyenge | Hungary | 5:14.2 | +14.0s | 6 | 23 | 7. | 2. Heda Frost | France | 5:14.4 | +14.2s | 5 | 20 | 8. | 3. Karin Larsson | Sweden | 5:18.3 | +18.1s | 4 | 15 | 12. | 4. Beth Whittall | Canada | 5:21.7 | +21.5s | 1 | 20 | 15. | 5. Winifred Griffin | New Zealand | 5:31.0 | +30.8s | 3 | 24 | 25. | 6. Gertrudes Lozada | Philippines | 5:34.2 | +34.0s | 7 | _ | 26. | -. Jeanette Myburgh | South Africa | DNS | | 2 | 16 | |
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Heat 2 | | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. Marley Shriver | United States | 5:07.6 | +7.4s OR | 4 | 19 | 3. | 2. Sandra Morgan | Australia | 5:07.8 | +7.6s | 6 | 14 | 4. | 3. Ingrid Kunzel-Reinhardt | UT Germany | 5:20.8 | +20.6s | 2 | 18 | 14. | 4. Gladys Priestley | Canada | 5:27.5 | +27.3s | 3 | 18 | 21. | 5. Anita Hellstrom | Sweden | 5:29.2 | +29.0s | 5 | 16 | 23. | 6. Vivianne Gouverneur | France | 5:29.7 | +29.5s | 1 | _ | 24. | -. Margaret Northrop | Kenya | DNS | | 7 | 22 | |
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