The men's 400 metre freestyle competition of the 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 at the 2011 Pan American Games

2011 Pan American Games

The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, Puerto Vallarta, Lagos de Moreno and Tapalpa...

 will take place on the 15 of October at the Scotiabank Aquatics Center

Scotiabank Aquatics Center

The Scotiabank Aquatics Center is an aquatics center built for the 2011 Pan American Games in the municipality of Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico. It was opened June 22, 2011, built at a cost of $USD31.7...

. The defending Pan American Games

Pan American Games

The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...

 champion is Matt Patton of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

This race consisted of eight lengths of the pool, with all eight being in the 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...

 stroke.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

World record		3:40.07	Rome Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...	July 26, 2009
Pan American Games record		3:49.77	Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th... , Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...	July 18, 2007

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee

National Olympic Committee

National Olympic Committees are the national constituents of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, they are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games...

 (NOC) was able to enter up to two entrants providing they had met the A standard (4:19.9) in the qualifying period (January 1, 2010 to September 4, 2011). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing they had met the B standard (4:27.7) in the same qualifying period.

Results

All times shown are in minutes.

KEY:	q	Fastest non-qualifiers	Q	Qualified	NR	National record	PB	Personal best	SB	Seasonal best

Heats

The first round was held on October 15.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	4	Matt Patton		3:54.70	QA
2	1	5	Cristian Quintero		3:56.67	QA
3	1	2	Martin Naidich		3:56.81	QA
4	1	3	Alejandro Gomez Alejandro Gómez Alejandro Darío Gómez is an Argentine football midfielder who currently plays for Calcio Catania in the Italian Serie A.-Arsenal de Sarandí:...		3:57.18	QA
5	2	4	Charlie Houchin Charlie Houchin Charlie Houchin is an American swimmer.-Swimming career:At the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships, Houchin won a silver medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay for his contributions in the heats. At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Houchin competed in one event, the...		3:57.98	QA
6	2	5	Juan Martin Pereyra		3:58.10	QA
7	2	3	Lucas Kanieski		3:58.30	QA
8	2	6	Arturo Perez Vertti		3:58.60	QA
9	1	7	Daniel Delgadillo		4:00.60	QB
10	2	2	Francis Despond		4:01.88	QB
11	1	6	Giuliano Rocco		4:04.25	QB
12	2	7	Raul Martinez		4:05.05	QB
13	2	1	Sebastian Jahnsen		4:13.73	QB
14	1	1	Allan Gutierrez		4:20.17	QB

Final B

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Francis Despond		4:00.16
2	3	Giuliano Rocco		4:00.61
3	4	Daniel Delgadillo		4:00.81
4	6	Raul Martinez Raúl Martínez Publio Amable Raúl Martínez González, known as Raúl Martínez, was a Cuban painter, designer and graphic artist...		4:04.25
5	2	Sebastian Jahnsen		4:05.56
6	7	Allan Gutierrez		4:19.71

Final A

The final was held on October 15.

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	2	Charlie Houchin Charlie Houchin Charlie Houchin is an American swimmer.-Swimming career:At the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships, Houchin won a silver medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay for his contributions in the heats. At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Houchin competed in one event, the...		3:50.95
	4	Matth Patton		3:51.25
	5	Cristian Quintero		3:52.51
4	7	Juan Martin Pereyra		3:52.71
5	1	Lucas Kanieski		3:56.26
6	6	Alejandro Gomez Alejandro Gómez Alejandro Darío Gómez is an Argentine football midfielder who currently plays for Calcio Catania in the Italian Serie A.-Arsenal de Sarandí:...		3:56.28
7	3	Martin Naidich		3:56.77
8	8	Arturo Perez Vertti		3:58.33