These are the official results of the Women's 3.000 metres event at the 1987 IAAF World Championships in Rome, Italy. There were a total number of 30 participating athletes and one non-starter, with two qualifying heats and the final held on Tuesday 1987-09-01.
| Gold | Tetyana Samolenko Soviet Union (URS) | |
| Silver |  Maricica PuicăRomania (ROU) | |
| Bronze | Ulrike Bruns East Germany (GDR) |
Existing records at the start of the event.
| World record | 8:22.62 | Leningrad, USSR | August 26, 1984 | ||
| Championship record | 8:34.62 | Helsinki, Finland | August 10, 1983 |
| RANK | FINAL | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:38.73 | |||
| 8:39.45 | |||
| 8:40.30 | |||
| 4. | 8:40.31 | ||
| 5. | 8:41.33 | ||
| 6. | 8:42.56 | ||
| 7. | 8:43.94 | ||
| 8. | 8:45.85 | ||
| 9. | 8:49.91 | ||
| 10. | 8:50.99 | ||
| 11. | 8:55.16 | ||
| 12. | 8:57.92 | ||
| 13. | 8:58.63 | ||
| 14. | 9:14.61 | ||
| - | DNS |
| RANK | HEAT 1 | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 8:46.88 | ||
| 2. | 8:47.15 | ||
| 3. | 8:47.95 | ||
| 4. | 8:48.11 | ||
| 5. | 8:48.44 | ||
| 6. | 8:49.61 | ||
| 7. | 8:49.61 | ||
| 8. | 8:52.45 | ||
| 9. | 8:54.17 | ||
| 10. | 8:57.24 | ||
| 11. | 9:01.15 | ||
| 12. | 9:01.83 | ||
| 13. | 9:16.28 | ||
| 14. | 9:26.11 | ||
| 15. | 10:44.15 |
| RANK | HEAT 2 | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 8:44.79 | ||
| 2. | 8:45.00 | ||
| 3. | 8:45.20 | ||
| 4. | 8:45.20 | ||
| 5. | 8:45.55 | ||
| 6. | 8:46.11 | ||
| 7. | 8:47.43 | ||
| 8. | 8:48.63 | ||
| 9. | 8:50.68 | ||
| 10. | 8:51.20 | ||
| 11. | 8:51.34 | ||
| 12. | 8:51.98 | ||
| 13. | 8:57.85 | ||
| 14. | 9:09.34 | ||
| - | DNF | ||
| - | DNS |