| Women 800m Freestyle Swimming V World Championship 1986 Madrid, Spain - Wednesday, 20th August - Gold Medal: Astrid Strauss, East Germany   | 
| Final |   | time |   | gap | L | ag | pts |  | 1. Astrid Strauss |   East Germany | 8:28.24 |   |   | 6 | 17 | 945  |  | 2. Katja Hartmann |   East Germany | 8:28.44 |   | +0.20s | 4 |   | 944  |  | 3. Debbie Babashoff |   United States | 8:34.04 |   | +5.80s | 3 |   | 914  |  | 4. Julie McDonald |   Australia | 8:36.82 |   | +8.58s | 2 | 16 | 899  |  | 5. Sarah Hardcastle |   Great Britain | 8:36.97 |   | +8.73s | 5 | 17 | 898  |  | 6. Tami Bruce |   United States | 8:45.50 |   | +17.26s | 8 | 19 | 855  |  | 7. Jolande Van Der Meer |   Netherlands | 8:47.26 |   | +19.02s | 1 | 21 | 837  |  | 8. Stela Marian Pura |   Romania | 8:50.68 |   | +22.44s | 7 | 15 | 830  |   
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 Heats - Wednesday, 20th August |  | Best 8 times advanced to Final.  |   
| Heat 5 |   | time |   | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 2. Sarah Hardcastle |   Great Britain | 8:37.45 |   | +0.46s | - | 17 | 1.  |  | 3. Debbie Babashoff |   United States | 8:39.59 |   | +2.60s | - |   | 2.  |  | 13.Karyn Faure |   France | 8:50.19 |   | +13.20s | - | 17 | 3.  |  | 16.Annette Moller |   Sweden | 8:56.28 |   | +19.29s | - |   | 4.  |  | 17.Antoaneta Strumenlieva |   Bulgaria | 8:57.12 |   | +20.13s | - | 18 | 5.  |  | 24.Suzanne Nilsson |   Sweden | 9:05.21 |   | +28.22s | - | 19 | 6.  |  | 25.Lisa Ann Wen |   Chinese Taipei | 9:10.21 |   | +33.22s | - | 21 | 7.  |   
| Heat 4 |   | time |   | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 4. Astrid Strauss |   East Germany | 8:39.62 |   | +2.63s | - | 17 | 1.  |  | 7. Jolande Van Der Meer |   Netherlands | 8:46.67 |   | +9.68s | - | 21 | 2.  |  | 10.Irene Dalby |   Norway | 8:49.25 |   | +12.26s | - | 15 | 3.  |  | 22.Chantal Duck |   Belgium | 9:00.37 |   | +23.38s | - |   | 4.  |  | -. Monica Olmi |   Hungary | DNS |   |   | - |   |   |  | -. Birgit Kowalczik |   West Germany | DNS |   |   | - |   |   |  | -. Marion Madine |   Ireland | DNS |   |   | - |   |   |   
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| Heat 3 |   | time |   | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 1. Katja Hartmann |   East Germany | 8:36.99 |   |   | - |   | 1.  |  | 14.Debby Wurzburger |   Canada | 8:51.16 |   | +14.17s | - | 16 | 2. |  | 20.Patricia Amorim |   Brazil | 8:58.24 |   | +21.25s | - | 17 | 3.  |  | 21.Kim Milne |   Canada | 9:00.15 |   | +23.16s | - |   | 4.  |  | 23.Monika Gyuro |   Hungary | 9:03.94 |   | +26.95s | - |   | 5.  |  | 27.Alexandra Nogueira |   Portugal | 9:17.44 |   | +40.45s | - |   | 6.  |  | 31.Beatriz Vilalta |   Dominicana | 10:10.59 |   | +1:33.60 | - |   | 7.  |   
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| Heat 2 |   | time |   | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 5. Julie McDonald |   Australia | 8:44.85 |   | +7.86s | - | 16 | 1.  |  | 6. Stela Marian Pura |   Romania | 8:46.48 |   | +9.49s | - | 15 | 2.  |  | 9. Isabelle Arnould |   Belgium | 8:48.61 |   | +11.62s | - | 15 | 3.  |  | 15.Pernille Nimb |   Denmark | 8:54.09 |   | +17.10s | - |   | 4.  |  | 18.Karen Mellor |   Great Britain | 8:57.31 |   | +20.32s | - | 17 | 5.  |  | 28.Africa D Gonzalez |   Venezuela | 9:40.83 |   | +1:03.84 | - |   | 6.  |  | 29.Natasha Aguilar |   Costa Rica | 9:44.31 |   | +1:07.32 | - | 16 | 7.  |   
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| Heat 1 |   | time |   | gap | L | ag | Rk |  | 8. Tami Bruce |   United States | 8:48.55 |   | +11.56s | - | 19 | 1.  |  | 11.Andrea Orosz |   Hungary | 8:49.50 |   | +12.51s | - | 19 | 2.  |  | 12.Tanya Vannini |   Italy | 8:49.71 |   | +12.72s | - | 17 | 3.  |  | 19.Nadia Kruger |   Switzerland | 8:57.95 |   | +20.96s | - | 18 | 4.  |  | 26.Cristiane Fanzeres |   Brazil | 9:13.16 |   | +36.17s | - |   | 5.  |  | 30.Hsu-Hsiu Ping |   Chinese Taipei | 9:44.56 |   | +1:07.57 | - |   | 6.  |  | -. Susie Baumer |   Australia | DNS |   |   | - |   |   |   
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