1997 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 10,000 metres
The women's 10,000 metres event featured at the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Greece. There were a total number of 34 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats on 2 August and the final being held on 5 August 1997.Results
Heats
First 8 of each Heat and the next 4 fastest qualified for the [|Final].
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 2 | Berhane Adere | | 32:05.29 | Q, SB |
| 2 | Fernanda Ribeiro | | 32:05.65 | Q |
| 2 | Sally Barsosio | | 32:05.68 | Q, SB |
| 2 | Gete Wami | | 32:05.73 | Q |
| 2 | Masako Chiba | | 32:05.76 | Q |
| 2 | Yang Siju | | 32:06.12 | Q, SB |
| 2 | Colleen De Reuck | | 32:09.56 | Q |
| 2 | Hiromi Masuda | | 32:11.63 | Q |
| 2 | Julia Vaquero | | 32:12.25 | q |
| 10 | 2 | Annette Peters | | 32:14.08 | q |
| 11 | 2 | Chantal Dallenbach | | 32:49.40 | q |
| 12 | 2 | Marleen Renders | | 33:02.37 | q |
| 13 | 1 | Nora Leticia Rocha | | 33:07.09 | Q |
| 14 | 1 | Annemari Sandell | | 33:07.50 | Q |
| 15 | 1 | Ren Xiujuan | | 33:08.12 | Q, SB |
| 16 | 1 | Silvia Sommaggio | | 33:08.19 | Q |
| 17 | 1 | Tegla Loroupe | | 33:08.20 | Q |
| 18 | 1 | Chiemi Takahashi | | 33:08.26 | Q |
| 19 | 1 | Zahia Dahmani | | 33:08.68 | Q |
| 20 | 1 | Elana Meyer | | 33:09.70 | Q |
| 21 | 2 | Helena Sampaio | | 33:14.85 | |
| 22 | 1 | Khrysostomia Iakovou | | 33:14.86 | |
| 23 | 1 | Olivera Jevtić | | 33:18.42 | |
| 24 | 1 | Derartu Tulu | | 33:25.99 | |
| 25 | 2 | Adriana Fernández | | 33:40.09 | |
| 26 | 2 | Kylie Risk | | 33:56.48 | SB |
| 27 | 1 | Gwyn Coogan | | 34:06.34 | |
| 28 | 2 | Maysa Matrood | | 35:44.93 | NR |
| 29 | 1 | Yvonne Danson | | 37:19.51 | |
| 30 | 1 | Ela Esperanza Obono | | 45:13.69 | |
| 1 | Marina Bastos | | | |
| 1 | Nyla Carroll | | | |
Final
