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:

1. Paul Biedermann (26.69, 28.13, 28.01, 28.59, 27.76, 28.39, 27.13, 25.77) 3:40.07
2. Ian Thorpe (25.33, 27.69, 28.25, 28.30, 27.81, 28.05, 27.61, 27.04) 3:40.08
3. Sun Yang (25.83, 27.76, 28.34, 28.59, 27.98,  28.14, 27.10, 26.40) 3:40.14
4. Lukas Martens (25.00, 27.37, 27.47, 28.35, 28.21, 28.01, 28.12, 27.40) 3:40.33
5. Samuel Short (25.91,27.67, 27.75, 27.96, 28.17, 28.03, 28.18, 27.01) 3:40.68
6. Ahmed Hafnaoui (26.07, 27.75, 27.89, 27.79, 28.03, 28.10, 27.97, 27.10) 3:40.70 
7. Ous Mellouli (25.95, 27.91, 28.15, 28.43, 27.76, 28.09, 27.66, 27.16) 3:41.11
8. Elijah Winnington (25.30, 27.66, 28.26, 28.75, 28.69, 28.23, 27.83, 26.50) 3:41.22
9. 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