| No Final Heat. Swimmers were put in 3 heats. Best were included in Heat 3. |
| Heat 3 | | time | | gap | L | Rk | | 1. Karen Margrete Harup |  Denmark | 5:18.2 | | | 1 | 1. | | 2. Catherine Gibson |  Great Britain | 5:19.8 | | +1.6s | 7 | 2. | | 3. Fernande Caroen |  Belgium | 5:20.9 | | +2.7s | 5 | 3. | | 4. Hannie Termeulen |  Netherlands | 5:21.8 | | +3.6s | 6 | 4. | | 5. Fritze Nathansen | Denmark | 5:26.8 | | +8.6s | 2 | 5. | | 7. Eva Szekely |  Hungary | 5:31.3 | | +13.1s | 4 | 6. | | 9. Gisela Tidholm |  Sweden | 5:39.8 | | +21.6s | 3 | 7. |
| Heat 2 | | time | | gap | L | Rk | | 6. Margaret Wellington | Great Britain | 5:30.6 | | +12.4s | 1 | 1. | | 8. Annie van Kampen | Netherlands | 5:32.1 | | +13.9s | 2 | 2. | | 10.Ellen Larson | Sweden | 5:42.4 | | +24.2s | 3 | 3. | | 10.Maria Littomeritzky | Hungary | 5:42.4 | | | 4 | |
| Heat 1 | | time | | gap | L | Rk | | 12.Colette Thomas |  France | 5:43.9 | NR | +25.7s | 3 | 1. | | 13.Romana Calligaris |  Italy | 5:58.4 | | +40.2s | 1 | 2. | | 14.Josette Delmas | France | 5:58.6 | | +40.4s | 4 | 3. | | 15.Carala Calligaris | Italy | 6:05.0 | | +52.8s | 2 | 4. |
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| World Record: | | European Record: |
| Ranking | | time | FR | | 1. Curties |  United States | 5:07.5 | | 2. Karen Margrete Harup | Denmark | 5:16.0 | | 3. Greta Andersen | Denmark | 5:21.5 | | 4. Catherine Gibson | Great Britain | 5:23.2 | | 5. Fritzie Nathansen | Denmark | 5:26.0 | | 6. Johanna Termeulen | Netherlands | 5:26.6 | | 7. Eva Szekely | Hungary | 5:28.0 | | 8. Helser | United States | 5:28.8 | | 9. Van Kampen | Netherlands | 5:32.0 | | 10.Sahner | United States | 5:32.3 |
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| 2 competitors from nation were allowed participate. |
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