The race was won by Norway's Grete Waitz in 2:28:09, ahead of Marianne Dickerson of the United States in second and the Soviet Union's Raisa Smekhnova in third.

In warm conditions, Rumiko Kaneko of Japan and Ireland's Carey May led in the early stages, before Jacqueline Gareau of Canada took over, trailed by a pack of runners which included two of the favourites, Waitz and Julie Brown.

Of the three, only Waitz was taking part in the World Championships:[3] Benoit did not run in the Avon International Marathon in Los Angeles, which the United States used as a qualifying race, choosing to focus on shorter distances instead.

[12] Canada's Jacqueline Gareau then established a small lead, passing the 6.2-mile (10 km) mark in 36:13, around 20 yards (18 m) ahead of a pack which included: Waitz of Norway; all three United States runners, Marianne Dickerson, Debbie Eide and Brown; Rosa Mota of Portugal; Italy's Laura Fogli and May from Ireland.

David Miller, a journalist for The Times, criticised her inexperience in pressing ahead too early, but Gareau said it was the only way she could secure a good finishing position.

[13] Brown was unable to match the leaders' pace from around the 20-mile (32 km) stage due to an Achilles injury and dropped out of the race completely three miles later.

[9] Behind, Joyce had dropped out of medal contention when she had to stop for a toilet break, leaving Dickerson to vie with Smekhnova for second place.

Waitz won the race in 2:28:09 and had time to complete a victory lap before Smekhnova narrowly led Dickerson as they entered the stadium.