The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 6 August at the

Olympic Aquatics Stadium The Olympic Aquatics Stadium ( pt, Estádio Aquático Olímpico) was a temporary aquatics center in the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. The venue hosted the swimming events, Synchronized swimming finals and water polo finals at the 2016 ...

Summary

China's Sun Yang fell short of his attempt to a back-to-back gold in one of the program's long-distance freestyle races due to an upset performance from Australia's

Mack Horton Mackenzie James Horton (born 25 April 1996) is an Australian freestyle swimmer. He is an Olympic gold medallist, World Championships medallist, and Commonwealth Games medallist. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he finished ...

. Heading into the final lap with a narrow 0.14-second lead, Horton managed to hold off the fast-charging Sun towards the finish for his first individual gold medal in 3:41.55. Unable to catch his Aussie rival near the wall by 13-hundredths of a second, Sun settled for the silver in 3:41.68. Meanwhile,

Gabriele Detti Gabriele Detti (born 29 August 1994) is an Italian competitive swimmer, who was for a time the world champion of the 800 m freestyle. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Career highlights At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Detti competed in th ...

picked up the bronze with a time of 3:43.49 to become Italy's first male Olympic medalist in swimming since 2000.

Conor Dwyer Conor James Dwyer (born January 10, 1989) is a former American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. He competed in freestyle and medley events, and won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team a ...

(3:44.01), the fastest swimmer headed into the final, and fellow American Connor Jaeger (3:44.16) finished off the podium in fourth and fifth respectively, separated by a 0.15-second margin. Great Britain's James Guy led the pack towards the halfway mark under a world record pace, but faded to sixth in 3:44.68. Horton's teammate David McKeon (3:45.28) and France's

Jordan Pothain Jordan Pothain (born 14 October 1994) is a French swimmer. He competes at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Braz ...

(3:49.07) rounded out the field. South Korean swimmer and Beijing 2008 champion

Park Tae-hwan Park Tae-hwan (, ; born September 27, 1989) is a South Korean competitive Swimming (sport), swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and world champion. He has four Olympic medals, five world titles, and 20 Asian Games medals. He won a gold me ...

, as well as Canada's long distance ace Ryan Cochrane, did not advance to the final, finishing tenth and eleventh in the prelims.

Records

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

Competition format

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

Results

Heats

The heats began at 1:48pm. ƒ False start, but allowed to continue at referee's discretion.

Final

The final began at 10:30pm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics - Men's 400 metre freestyle Men's 00400 metre freestyle Olympics Men's events at the 2016 Summer Olympics