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 1924 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics

At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Sunday July 13, 1924 to Sunday July 20, 1924.There were 169 participants from 23 countries competing...

 programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held from Wednesday July 16, 1924 to Friday July 18, 1924.

Twenty-three swimmers from 13 nations competed.

Medalists

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World Record	4:57.0	Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...	New Haven New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	March 6, 1923
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

In the first heat Ralph Breyer

Ralph Breyer

Ralph Theodore Breyer was an American swimmer who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics.In the 1924 Olympics he won a gold medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay event. He also competed in the 400 m freestyle event, but did not start in the semifinal.He died in Los Angeles, California.-External links:*...

 set a new Olympic record with 5:22.4 minutes, only to be bettered in the third heat by Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...

 who set a time of 5:22.2 minutes. Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...

improved this record to 5:13.6 minutes in the semi-finals and finally to 5:04.2 minutes in the final.

Heats

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

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:22.4	QQ OR
2		5:32.6	QQ
3		6:28.0
—		DNF

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:28.2	QQ
2		5:34.8	QQ
3		6:21.4
4		6:41.4

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:22.2	QQ OR
2		5:30.2	QQ
3		5:38.6
4		5:56.2
5		6:20.4

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:31.8	QQ
2		5:38.0	QQ
3		5:43.8
4		5:49.4
5		5:52.4

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:32.4	QQ
2		5:32.6	QQ
3		5:32.2	qq
4		5:59.8
5		6:26.6

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		5:13.6	QF OR
2		5:32.6	QF
3		5:37.6
4		5:38.0
5		5:53.2
—		DNS

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:21.4	QF
2		5:25.0	QF
3		5:30.4	qf
4		5:39.4
—		DNF

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		5:04.2 OR
2		5:05.6
3		5:06.6
4		5:26.0
5		5:32.0