The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held in 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's twenty-seventh consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1904.

Summary Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia won the gold medal after entering the competition as the 16th seed. He was the lowest-seeded swimmer to win an Olympic swimming event since Kirsty Coventry, who won the 200-metre backstroke as the 21st seed in 2004. Hafnaoui entered with a personal-best time of 3:46.16, set the previous month. He improved that time in the heats and qualified eighth for the final by 0.14 seconds. The 18-year-old, the youngest swimmer in the final, was third after 100 metres and moved into second by the 150-metre mark. He trailed Australia's Jack McLoughlin by 0.31 seconds at the final turn before overtaking him during the final 50 metres. Hafnaoui won in 3:43.36, which was 2.80 seconds faster than his entry time. He became the first African swimmer to win the Olympic title in the event and the second Tunisian swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal, after Oussama Mellouli.

McLoughlin, swimming in lane 2, took the lead at the halfway mark and remained ahead through the final turn. He finished second in 3:43.52, 0.16 seconds behind Hafnaoui. The United States' Kieran Smith recorded the second-fastest final 50-metre split among the finalists and won the bronze medal. It was the first U.S. medal in the event since Peter Vanderkaay won bronze in 2012. Austria's Felix Auboeck, who was third at the final turn, finished joint fourth with Germany's Henning Mühlleitner. Mühlleitner recorded the fastest final 50-metre split of the field.

Italy's Gabriele Detti, the only returning Olympic medalist in the final, finished sixth in 3:44.88. Detti, who won bronze in 2016, finished more than one second outside his Italian record. Australia's Elijah Winnington, the only finalist whose personal best before the race was under 3:43, led during the opening stages before falling back after the halfway mark. He finished seventh in 3:45.20. The United States' Jake Mitchell, who qualified for the Olympic team through a time trial, finished eighth with a time 0.01 seconds slower than his preliminary time.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 3:46.78. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 3:53.58. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.

Competition format

The competition consists of two rounds: heats and a final. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

DateTimeRound 24 July 19:38 Heats 25 July 10:52 Final

Results The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advance to the final.

Heats Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 4 2 Henning Mühlleitner 3:43.67 2 4 3 Felix Auböck 3:43.91 , NR 3 4 4 Gabriele Detti 3:44.67 4 5 4 Elijah Winnington 3:45.20 4 5 5 Jack McLoughlin 3:45.20 6 5 2 Kieran Smith 3:45.25 7 5 1 Jake Mitchell 3:45.38 8 4 8 Ahmed Hafnaoui 3:45.68 9 3 5 Antonio Djakovic 3:45.82 NR 10 5 6 Marco De Tullio 3:45.85 11 4 7 Guilherme Costa 3:45.99 12 4 6 Lukas Märtens 3:46.30 13 4 5 Danas Rapšys 3:46.32 14 3 7 Marwan El-Kamash 3:46.94 15 3 1 Kregor Zirk 3:47.05 NR 16 2 4 Alfonso Mestre 3:47.14 NR 17 3 4 Aleksandr Yegorov 3:47.71 18 5 8 Gábor Zombori 3:47.99 19 5 7 Ji Xinjie 3:48.27 20 4 1 Kieran Bird 3:48.55 21 3 3 Henrik Christiansen 3:48.88 22 5 3 Martin Malyutin 3:49.49 23 3 2 Zac Reid 3:49.85 24 2 3 Martin Bau 3:52.56 25 2 2 Joaquín Vargas 3:52.94 26 3 8 Lee Ho-joon 3:53.23 27 1 5 Eduardo Cisternas 3:54.10 NR 28 3 6 David Aubry 3:55.01 29 2 6 Aflah Fadlan Prawira 3:55.08 30 2 7 Wesley Roberts 3:55.65 31 1 4 Igor Mogne 3:56.56 32 1 3 Irakli Revishvili 3:57.49 33 2 5 Welson Sim 3:58.25 34 2 8 Alex Sobers 3:59.14 35 2 1 James Freeman 4:03.10 36 1 6 Filip Derkoski 4:03.34

Final

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 8 Ahmed Hafnaoui 3:43.36 2 Jack McLoughlin 3:43.52 7 Kieran Smith 3:43.94 4 4 Henning Mühlleitner 3:44.07 5 Felix Auböck 3:44.07 6 3 Gabriele Detti 3:44.88 7 6 Elijah Winnington 3:45.20 8 1 Jake Mitchell 3:45.39

References