| Indoor 1982 Women 3000m Milan | Agnese Possamai |  Italy | 8:53.77 | Maricica Puică |  Romania | 8:54.26 | Paula Fudge |  Great Britain | 8:56.96 |
| Indoor 1983 Women 3000m Budapest | Yelena Sipatova |  Soviet Union | 9:04.40 | Agnese Possamai | Italy | 9:04.41 | Yelena Malykhina | Soviet Union | 9:04.52 |
| Indoor 1984 Women 3000m Gothenburg | Brigitte Kraus |  West Germany | 9:12.07 | Tatyana Pozdnyakova | Soviet Union | 9:15.41 | Ivana Kleinová |  Czechoslovakia | 9:15.71 |
| Indoor 1985 Women 3000m Piraeus | Agnese Possamai | Italy | 8:55.25 | Olga Bondarenko | Soviet Union | 8:58.03 | Yvonne Murray | Great Britain | 9:00.94 |
| Indoor 1986 Women 3000m Madrid | Ines Bibernell |  East Germany | 8:54.52 | Yvonne Murray | Great Britain | 9:01.31 | Regina Chistyakova | Soviet Union | 9:01.72 |
| Indoor 1987 Women 3000m Liévin | Yvonne Murray | Great Britain | 8:46.06 | Elly van Hulst |  Netherlands | 8:51.40 | Brigitte Kraus | West Germany | 8:53.01 |
| Indoor 1988 Women 3000m Budapest | Elly van Hulst | Netherlands | 8:44.50 | Vera Michallek | West Germany | 8:46.97 | Wendy Sly | Great Britain | 8:51.04 |
| Indoor 1989 Women 3000m The Hague | Elly van Hulst | Netherlands | 9:10.01 | Nicky Morris | Great Britain | 9:12.37 | Maricica Puică | Romania | 9:15.49 |
| Indoor 1990 Women 3000m Glasgow | Elly van Hulst | Netherlands | 8:57.28 | Margareta Keszeg | Romania | 8:57.50 | Andrea Hahmann | East Germany | 9:00.31 |
| Indoor 1992 Women 3000m Genoa | Margareta Keszeg | Romania | 8:59.80 | Tatyana Dorovskikh |  EUN | 9:00.15 | Rita Marquard |  GER Germany | 9:00.99 |
| Indoor 1994 Women 3000m Paris | Fernanda Ribeiro |  Portugal | 8:50.47 | Margareta Keszeg | Romania | 8:55.61 | Anna Brzezińska |  Poland | 8:56.90 |
| Indoor 1996 Women 3000m Stockholm | Fernanda Ribeiro | Portugal | 8:39.49 | Sara Wedlund |  Sweden | 8:50.32 | Marta Domínguez |  Spain | 8:53.34 |
| Indoor 1998 Women 3000m Valencia | Gabriela Szabo | Romania | 8:49.96 | Fernanda Ribeiro | Portugal | 8:51.42 | Marta Domínguez | Spain | 8:57.72 |
| Indoor 2000 Women 3000m Ghent | Gabriela Szabo | Romania | 8:42.06 | Lidia Chojecka | Poland | 8:42.42 | Marta Domínguez | Spain | 8:44.08 |
| Indoor 2002 Women 3000m Vienna | Marta Domínguez | Spain | 8:53.87 | Carla Sacramento | Portugal | 8:53.96 | Yelena Zadorozhnaya |  Russia | 8:58.36 |
| Indoor 2005 Women 3000m Belgrade | Lidia Chojecka | Poland | 8:43.76 | Susanne Pumper |  Austria | 8:47.74 | Sabrina Mockenhaupt | Germany | ---- |
| Indoor 2007 Women 3000m Madrid | Lidia Chojecka | Poland | ---- | Marta Domínguez | Spain | ---- | Silvia Weissteiner | Italy | ---- |
| Indoor 2009 Women 3000m Birmingham | Alemitu Bekele |  Turkey | ---- | Sara Moreira | Portugal | ---- | Mary Cullen |  Ireland | ---- |
| Indoor 2011 Women 3000m Turin | Helen Clitheroe | Great Britain | ---- | Lidia Chojecka | Poland | ---- | Layes Abdullayeva |  Azerbaidjan | ---- |
| Indoor 2013 Women 3000m Paris | Sara Moreira | Portugal | ---- | Corinna Harrer | Germany | ---- | Fionnuala Britton | Ireland | ---- |
| Indoor 2015 Women 3000m Prague | Yelena Korobkina | Russia | ---- | Sviatlana Kudzelich |  Belarus | ---- | Maureen Koster | Netherlands | ---- |
| Indoor 2017 Women 3000m Belgrade | Laura Muir | Great Britain | ---- | Yasemin Can | Turkey | ---- | Eilish McColgan | Great Britain | ---- |
| Indoor 2019 Women 3000m Glasgow | Laura Muir | Great Britain | ---- | Konstanze Klosterhalfen | Germany | ---- | Melissa Courtney | Great Britain | ---- |
| Indoor 2021 Women 3000m Toruń | Amy-Eloise Markovc | Great Britain | ---- | Alice Finot |  France | ---- | Verity Ockenden | Great Britain | ---- |
| Indoor 2023 Women 3000m Istanbul | Hanna Klein | Germany | ---- | Konstanze Klosterhalfen | Germany | ---- | Melissa Courtney-Bryant | Great Britain | ---- |
| Indoor 2025 Women 3000m Apeldoorn | Sarah Healy | Ireland | ---- | Melissa Courtney-Bryant | Great Britain | ---- | Salomé Afonso | Portugal | ---- |
