Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The men's 400 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics programme.^[1] It was the third appearance of the event.

Men's 400 metre freestyle at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Stade Nautique d'Antwerp
Dates	August 26–28
Competitors	22 from 11 nations
Medalists
Norman Ross  United States Ludy Langer  United States George Vernot  Canada
← 1912 1924 →

A total of 22 swimmers from 11 nations competed in the event, which was held from Thursday, August 26 to Saturday, August 28, 1920.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	5:14.6	Norman Ross	Los Angeles (USA)	October 9, 1919
Olympic Record	5:24.4	George Hodgson	Stockholm (SWE)	July 14, 1912

Results

Quarterfinals

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

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Norman Ross (USA)	6:16.2	Q
2	Kenkichi Saito (JPN)	6:16.8	Q

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Harold Annison (GBR)	5:58.0	Q
2	Keith Kirkland (AUS)	6:12.2	Q
3	Paul Vasseur (FRA)	6:30.4
4	Alfred Steen (NOR)	6:30.6
5	René Ricolfi-Doria (SUI)

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Bill Harris (USA)	5:57.8	Q
2	Henry Taylor (GBR)	6:01.2	Q
3	Masayoshi Uchida (JPN)	6:40.0
4	Alois Hrášek (TCH)

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	George Vernot (CAN)	5:32.6	Q
2	Fred Kahele (USA)	5:37.4	Q
3	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	5:42.0	q
4	Arne Borg (SWE)
5	Edward Peter (GBR)
6	Gilio Bisagno (ITA)

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Ludy Langer (USA)	5:41.1	Q
2	George Hodgson (CAN)	5:49.8	Q
3	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	5:50.6
4	Henry Hay (AUS)
5	Antonio Quarantotto (ITA)

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	Norman Ross (USA)	5:33.8	Q
2	Fred Kahele (USA)	5:35.8	Q
3	Bill Harris (USA)	5:36.0
4	Henry Taylor (GBR)
—	Kenkichi Saito (JPN)	DNF

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	George Vernot (CAN)	5:27.8	Q
2	Ludy Langer (USA)	5:29.2	Q
3	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	5:32.8	q
4	George Hodgson (CAN)
5	Harold Annison (GBR)
—	Keith Kirkland (AUS)	DNF

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Norman Ross (USA)	5:26.8
2	Ludy Langer (USA)	5:29.0
3	George Vernot (CAN)	5:29.6
4	Fred Kahele (USA)
—	Frank Beaurepaire (AUS)	DNF