Swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

Men's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the V Olympiad
Venue Djurgårdsbrunnsviken
Dates July 11–14
Competitors 26 from 13 nations
Medalists
    Canada
    Great Britain
    Australasia
«1908 1920»
Swimming at the
1912 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m   men   women
400 m men
1500 m men
Backstroke
100 m men
Breaststroke
200 m men
400 m men
Freestyle relay
4×100 m women
4×200 m men

The men's 400 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the third appearance of the event, which had been introduced in 1904. The competition was held from Thursday July 11, 1912 to Sunday July 14, 1912.

Twenty-six swimmers from 13 nations competed.

Contents

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record 5:28.4 Béla Las-Torres Budapest (HUN) June 5, 1912
Olympic Record 5:36.8 Henry Taylor London (GBR) July 16, 1908

In the first heat Harold Hardwick set a new Olympic record with 5:36.0 minutes. In the fifth heat Cecil Healy improved the Olympic record with 5:34.0 minutes. In the first semi-final George Hodgson set a world record with 5:25.4 minutes and in the final he improved his record again with 5:24.4 minutes.

Results

Quarterfinals

The top two in each heat advanced along with the fastest loser overall.

Heat 1

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Harold Hardwick (ANZ) 5:36.0 QS OR
2  Malcolm Champion (ANZ) 5:37.0 QS
3  James Reilly (USA) 6:10.2
4  Nils-Erik Haglund (SWE) 6:23.4
5  Davide Baiardo (ITA)
 Mario Massa (ITA) DNF

Heat 2

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Thomas Battersby (GBR) 6:03.6 QS
2  John Johnsen (NOR) 6:14.4 QS
3  Eskil Wedholm (SWE) 6:29.8
 Pavel Avksentyev (RUS) DNF

Heat 3

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Max Ritter (GER) 5:44.6 QS
2  Alajos Kenyery (HUN) 5:46.0 QS
3  Nicholas Nerich (USA) 5:50.4 qs
 Theodore Tartakover (ANZ) DNF
 David Theander (SWE) DNF

Heat 4

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Béla Las-Torres (HUN) 5:36.2 QS
2  Henry Taylor (GBR) 5:48.4 QS
 Nikolai Voronkov (RUS) DNF

Heat 5

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Cecil Healy (ANZ) 5:34.0 QS OR
2  John Hatfield (GBR) 5:35.6 QS
3  Franz Schuh (AUT) 6:09.4

Heat 6

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  George Hodgson (CAN) 5:50.6 QS
2  William Foster (GBR) 5:52.4 QS
3  Oscar Schiele (GER) 5:57.0
4  George Godfrey (RSA) 6:30.6
5  Harry Hedegaard (DEN) 7:07.8

Semifinals

The top two from each heat and the faster of the two third place swimmers advanced.

Semifinal 1

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  George Hodgson (CAN) 5:25.4 QF WR
2  John Hatfield (GBR) 5:25.6 QF
3  William Foster (GBR) 5:49.0
4  Nicholas Nerich (USA) 5:51.0
5  Thomas Battersby (GBR) 5:51.2
6  John Johnsen (NOR)
 Max Ritter (GER) DNS

Semifinal 2

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Harold Hardwick (ANZ) 5:31.0 QF
2  Béla Las-Torres (HUN) 5:34.8 QF
3  Cecil Healy (ANZ) 5:37.8 qf
4  Malcolm Champion (ANZ) 5:38.0
5  Henry Taylor (GBR) 5:48.2
 Alajos Kenyery (HUN) DNS

Final

Place Swimmer Time
1  George Hodgson (CAN) 5:24.4 WR
2  John Hatfield (GBR) 5:25.8
3  Harold Hardwick (ANZ) 5:31.2
4  Cecil Healy (ANZ) 5:37.8
5  Béla Las-Torres (HUN) 5:42.0

References