The men's 400 metre freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

was a swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics

At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, ten swimming events were contested. The women's 300 metre freestyle event was new since the previous Games in 1912. The competitions were held from Sunday August 22, 1920 to Sunday August 29, 1920...

 programme. It was the third appearance of the event.

A total of 22 swimmers from 11 nations competed in the event, which was held from Thursday, August 26 to Saturday, August 28, 1920.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	5:14.6	Norman Ross Norman Ross Norman Ross was a swimmer from the United States notable for winning five events at the Inter-Allied Games in June, 1919, held at Joinville-Le-Pont near Paris and three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. He set thirteen world records and held eighteen U.S...	Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	October 9, 1919
Olympic Record	5:24.4	George Hodgson George Hodgson George Ritchie Hodgson was a Canadian swimmer of the early 20th century, and considered by many to be the greatest swimmer in Canadian history.He was born and died in Montreal....	Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...  (SWE Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... )	July 14, 1912

Quarterfinals

The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		6:16.2	Q
2		6:16.8	Q

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:58.0	Q
2		6:12.2	Q
3		6:30.4
4		6:30.6
5

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:57.8	Q
2		6:01.2	Q
3		6:40.0
4

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:32.6	Q
2		5:37.4	Q
3		5:42.0	q
4
5
6

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:41.1	Q
2		5:49.8	Q
3		5:50.6
4
5

Semifinals

The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:33.8	Q
2		5:35.8	Q
3		5:36.0
4
—		DNF

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:27.8	Q
2		5:29.2	Q
3		5:32.8	q
4
5
—		DNF

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		5:26.8
2		5:29.0
3		5:29.6
4
—		DNF