The men's 400 metre freestyle was one of six 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...

 events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, six swimming events were contested. These were the first Olympic Games in which a 100 metre pool had been especially constructed . Previous Olympic events were swum in open water...

 programme. Its distance was the median of the 3 individual freestyle event distances. It was the first time an event over 400 metres was held at the Olympics (after a 440 yard contest was held in 1904). The competition was held from Monday July 13, 1908 to Thursday July 16, 1908.

Twenty-five swimmers from ten nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.

World Record	?	?
Olympic Record	6:16.2(*)	Charles Daniels Charles Daniels (swimmer) Charles Meldrum "Charlie" Daniels is a former American swimmer and eight-time Olympic medalist. Daniels was an innovator of the front crawl swimming style, inventing the "American crawl".-Career:Daniels began his swimming career with the New York Athletic Club in 1903...	St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	September 7, 1904

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

In the final Henry Taylor

Henry Taylor (swimmer)

Henry Taylor was a British freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1906 Summer Olympics, in the 1908 Summer Olympics, in the 1912 Summer Olympics, and in the 1920 Summer Olympics. He served in the Royal Navy during the First World War, and continued to swim competitively until 1926...

set the first official world record for this distance in 5:36.8 minutes.

First round

The fastest swimmer in each heat and the fastest loser advanced, qualifying 10 swimmers for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:48.8	QS
2		5:52.2	qs
3		Unknown
4		Unknown
—		Did not finish

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:54.8	QS
2		6:28.0

Heat 3

Tartakover had no competition in the third heat.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		6:35.0	QS

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:49.2	QS
2		6:16.8
3		Unknown
—		Did not finish

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		6:10.0	QS
2		8:08.8

Heat 6

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:42.2	QS
2		5:57.4
3		Unknown

Heat 7

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:51.0	QS
2		6:21.2
3		Unknown
4-5		Unknown
		Unknown

Heat 8

Zachár had no competition in the eighth heat.

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		6:09.8	QS

Heat 9

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		6:19.8	QS
2		7:00.4

Semifinals

The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:40.6	QF
2		5:41.0	QF
3		Unknown
4		Unknown
5		Unknown

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:44.0	QF
2		5:52.2	QF
3		Unknown
—		Did not finish
—		Did not start

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		5:36.8
2		5:44.2
3		5:46.0
4		Unknown

Sources