Swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

Men's 400 metre freestyle at the Games of the VIII Olympiad
Date	July 16–18
Competitors	23 from 13 nations
Medalists
Johnny Weissmuller  United States Arne Borg  Sweden Boy Charlton  Australia

Swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m	men		women
400 m	men		women
1500 m	men
Backstroke
100 m	men		women
Breaststroke
200 m	men		women
Freestyle relay
4×100 m			women
4×200 m	men

The men's 400 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics 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.

Records

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

World Record	4:57.0	Johnny Weissmuller	New Haven (USA)	March 6, 1923
Olympic Record	5:24.4	George Hodgson	Stockholm (SWE)	July 14, 1912

In the first heat Ralph Breyer set a new Olympic record with 5:22.4 minutes, only to be bettered in the third heat by Johnny Weissmuller who set a time of 5:22.2 minutes. Weissmuller improved this record to 5:13.6 minutes in the semi-finals and finally to 5:04.2 minutes in the final.

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Ralph Breyer (USA)	5:22.4	QQ OR
2	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	5:32.6	QQ
3	Atilije Venturini (YUG)	6:28.0
—	Moss Christie (AUS)	DNF

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Åke Borg (SWE)	5:28.2	QQ
2	Václav Antoš (TCH)	5:34.8	QQ
3	Dionysios Vasilopoulos (GRE)	6:21.4
4	Đura Sentđerđi (YUG)	6:41.4

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Johnny Weissmuller (USA)	5:22.2	QQ OR
2	Boy Charlton (AUS)	5:30.2	QQ
3	Edward Peter (GBR)	5:38.6
4	Salvator Pellegry (FRA)	5:56.2
5	Sjaak Köhler (NED)	6:20.4

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Arne Borg (SWE)	5:31.8	QQ
2	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	5:38.0	QQ
3	Kazuo Noda (JPN)	5:43.8
4	Alberto Zorrilla (ARG)	5:49.4
5	Stanislav Bičák (TCH)	5:52.4

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Lester Smith (USA)	5:32.4	QQ
2	Harold Annison (GBR)	5:32.6	QQ
3	22x20px George Vernot (CAN)	5:32.2	qq
4	Édouard Vanzeveren (FRA)	5:59.8
5	22x20px Pedro Méndez (ESP)	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	Johnny Weissmuller (USA)	5:13.6	QF OR
2	Boy Charlton (AUS)	5:32.6	QF
3	Lester Smith (USA)	5:37.6
4	22x20px George Vernot (CAN)	5:38.0
5	Václav Antoš (TCH)	5:53.2
—	Ralph Breyer (USA)	DNS

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Arne Borg (SWE)	5:21.4	QF
2	Åke Borg (SWE)	5:25.0	QF
3	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	5:30.4	qf
4	Harold Annison (GBR)	5:39.4
—	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	DNF

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Johnny Weissmuller (USA)	5:04.2 OR
2	Arne Borg (SWE)	5:05.6
3	Boy Charlton (AUS)	5:06.6
4	Åke Borg (SWE)	5:26.0
5	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	5:32.0

References

• Olympic Report
• sports-reference