World’s Fastest 400m Freestyle – Men’s Long Course
World Record: Paul Biedermann 3:40.07
Olympic Record: Sun Yang 3:40.14
World Junior Record: Petar Petrov Mitsin 3:44.31
Commonwealth Record: Ian Thorpe 3:40.08
Top 9 All-time Performers:
- Paul Biedermann (26.69, 28.13, 28.01, 28.59, 27.76, 28.39, 27.13, 25.77) 3:40.07
- Ian Thorpe (25.33, 27.69, 28.25, 28.30, 27.81, 28.05, 27.61, 27.04) 3:40.08
- Sun Yang (25.83, 27.76, 28.34, 28.59, 27.98, 28.14, 27.10, 26.40) 3:40.14
- Lukas Martens (25.00, 27.37, 27.47, 28.35, 28.21, 28.01, 28.12, 27.40) 3:40.33
- Samuel Short (25.91,27.67, 27.75, 27.96, 28.17, 28.03, 28.18, 27.01) 3:40.68
- Ahmed Hafnaoui (26.07, 27.75, 27.89, 27.79, 28.03, 28.10, 27.97, 27.10) 3:40.70
- Ous Mellouli (25.95, 27.91, 28.15, 28.43, 27.76, 28.09, 27.66, 27.16) 3:41.11
- Elijah Winnington (25.30, 27.66, 28.26, 28.75, 28.69, 28.23, 27.83, 26.50) 3:41.22
- Zhang Lin (26.30, 27.67, 28.43, 28.31, 28.41, 28.03, 27.72, 26.48) 3:41.35
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The chart below compares the World’s fastest 400m Freestyle swimmers. Swimmers and coaches can looks at the individual Splits, Stroke Counts and the first 50m split compared to swimmers 50m PB. All swim data has been collected from our team reviewing race footage where possible.
| Men's 400m Freestyle - Long Course | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Biedermann | Ian Thorpe | Sun Yang | Lukas Martens | Samuel Short | Ahmed Hafnaoui | Ous Mellouli | Elijah Winnington | Zhang Lin | Park Taehwan | |
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in 193cm | 6 ft 5 in 196cm | 6 ft 7 in 200cm | 6 ft 4 in 192cm | 6 ft 4 in 195cm | 6 ft 4 in 192cm | 6 ft 1 in 186cm | 6 ft 2 in 188cm | 6 ft 0 in 183cm | |
| Weight: | 205Ib 93kg | 229Ib 104kg | 196Ib 89kg | 165Ib 75kg | 185lb 84kg | 185Ib 84kg | 172lb 78kg | 170Ib 77kg | 168Ib 76kg | |
| Country: | GER | AUS | CHN | GER | AUS | TUN | TUN | AUS | CHN | KOR |
| DOB: | 1986-08-07 | 1982-10-13 | 1991-12-01 | 2001-12-27 | 2003-09-17 | 2002-12-04 | 1984-02-19 | 2000-05-05 | 1987-01-06 | 1989-09-27 |
| Meet: | 13th FINA World Championships 2009 | 17th Commonwealth Games 2002 | Olympic Games London 2012 | German Swimming Championships 2024 | World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023 | World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023 | 13th FINA World Championships 2009 | 19th FINA World Championships Budapest 2022 | 13th FINA World Championships 2009 | 16th Asian Games 2010 |
| 1st 50m Split | 26.69 | 25.33 | 25.83 | 25.00 | 25.91 | 26.07 | 25.95 | 25.30 | 26.30 | 25.87 |
| Strokes | 27 | 27 | 31 | 29 | 29 | 30 | ||||
| Split Time: | 26.69 | 25.33 | 25.83 | 25.00 | 25.91 | 26.07 | 25.95 | 25.30 | 26.30 | 25.87 |
| 50m PB: | 22.98 | 23.57 | 24.68 | 24.14 | 25.05 | 25.89 | 23.03 | 22.79 | 25.20 | |
| Time off 50m PB: | 3.71 | 1.76 | 1.15 | 0.86 | 0.86 | 0.18 | 2.92 | 2.51 | 1.10 | |
| Percentage of 50m PB: | 116.145% | 107.467% | 104.659% | 103.563% | 103.433% | 100.695% | 112.679% | 111.014% | 104.365% | |
| 2nd 50m Split | 28.13 | 27.69 | 27.76 | 27.37 | 27.67 | 27.75 | 27.91 | 27.66 | 27.67 | 27.93 |
| Strokes | 29 | 28 | 37 | 32 | 31 | 33 | 32 | 31 | ||
| Split Time: | 54.42 | 53.02 | 53.59 | 52.37 | 53.58 | 53.82 | 53.86 | 52.96 | 53.97 | 53.80 |
| 100m PB: | 48.31 | 48.56 | 49.27 | 50.62 | 52.54 | 53.82 | 49.55 | 49.34 | 52.24 | 48.42 |
| Time off 100m PB: | 6.11 | 4.46 | 4.32 | 1.75 | 1.04 | 0.00 | 4.31 | 3.62 | 1.73 | 5.38 |
| Percentage of 100m PB | 112.648% | 109.185% | 108.768% | 103.457% | 101.979% | 100.000% | 108.698% | 107.337% | 103.312% | 111.111% |
| 3rd 50m Split | 28.01 | 28.25 | 28.34 | 27.47 | 27.75 | 27.89 | 28.15 | 28.26 | 28.43 | 27.72 |
| Strokes | 30 | 30 | 28 | 37 | - | 32 | 34 | 33 | 31 | |
| Split Time: | 1:22.43 | 1:21.27 | 1:21.93 | 1:19.84 | 1:21.33 | 1:21.71 | 1:22.01 | 1:21.22 | 1:22.40 | 1:21.52 |
| 4th 50m Split | 28.59 | 28.30 | 28.59 | 28.35 | 27.96 | 27.79 | 28.43 | 28.75 | 28.31 | 27.97 |
| Strokes | 30 | 29 | 38 | 33 | 32 | 34? | 34 | 32 | ||
| Split Time: | 1:51.02 | 1:49.57 | 1:50.52 | 1:48.19 | 1:49.29 | 1:49.50 | 1:50.44 | 1:49.97 | 1:50.71 | 1:49.49 |
| 200m PB: | 1:42.00 | 1:44.06 | 1:44.39 | 1:44.79 | 1:47.35 | 1:49.50 | 1:46.44 | 1:45.55 | 1:46.13 | 1:44.80 |
| Time off 200m PB: | 9.02 | 5.51 | 6.13 | 3.40 | 1.94 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 4.42 | 4.58 | 4.69 |
| Percentage of 200m PB | 108.843% | 105.295% | 105.872% | 103.245% | 101.807% | 100.000% | 103.758% | 104.188% | 104.315% | 104.475% |
| 5th 50m Split | 27.76 | 27.81 | 27.98 | 28.21 | 28.17 | 28.03 | 27.76 | 28.69 | 28.41 | 28.18 |
| Strokes | 30 | 30 | 29 | 37 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 32 | |
| Split Time: | 2:18.78 | 2:17.38 | 2:18.50 | 2:16.40 | 2:17.46 | 2:17.53 | 2:18.20 | 2:18.66 | 2:19.12 | 2:17.67 |
| 6th 50m Split | 28.39 | 28.05 | 28.14 | 28.01 | 28.03 | 28.10 | 28.09 | 28.23 | 28.03 | 28.66 |
| Strokes | 31 | 30 | 30 | 36 | 37 | 32 | 34 | 35 | 33 | |
| Split Time: | 2:47.17 | 2:45.43 | 2:46.64 | 2:44.41 | 2:45.49 | 2:45.63 | 2:46.29 | 2:46.89 | 2:47.15 | 2:46.33 |
| 7th 50m Split | 27.13 | 27.61 | 27.10 | 28.12 | 28.18 | 27.97 | 27.66 | 27.83 | 27.72 | 28.06 |
| Strokes | 33 | 31 | 37 | - | 34 | 34 | 36 | 33 | ||
| Split Time: | 3:14.30 | 3:13.04 | 3:13.74 | 3:11.81 | 3:13.67 | 3:13.60 | 3:13.95 | 3:14.72 | 3:14.87 | 3:14.39 |
| 8th 50m Split | 25.77 | 27.04 | 26.40 | 27.40 | 27.01 | 27.10 | 27.16 | 26.50 | 26.48 | 27.14 |
| Strokes | 36 | 31 | 33 | 37 | 37 | 35 | 38 | 37 | 36 | |
| Total Time: | 3:40.07 | 3:40.08 | 3:40.14 | 3:40.33 | 3:40.68 | 3:40.70 | 3:41.11 | 3:41.22 | 3:41.35 | 3:41.53 |
Here is Paul Biedermann’s 400m Freestyle World Record swim to view.
The 400m freestyle is one of the most challenging events in swimming, requiring both speed and endurance. The current world record for this event is held by Paul Biedermann, who swam it in an impressive time of 3:40.07. Other top swimmers, including Ian Thorpe and Sun Yang, have come close to breaking this record, but Biedermann’s time still stands as the fastest ever recorded.
Paul Biedermann, Ian Thorpe and Sun Yang are swimmers who also appear in the Men’s 200m Freestyle Long Course and 400m Freestyle Long Course review lists.
Those who make the list from the 400m Freestyle and 800m Freestyle list are Ian Thorpe, Sun Yang, Ous Mellouli and Zhang Lin.
Note: World’s Fastest 400m Freestyle – Men’s Long Course Update April 2024
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