| | Event type

400 metres Freestyle, Men

Date	22 – 23 October 1968
Status	Olympic
Location	Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez, Ciudad de México
Participants	37 from 20 countries

Since the 1964 Olympics the world record has been improved 10 times by seven different swimmers, with the most recent mark being 4:06.5, set by Canada’s Ralph Hutton at Lincoln, Nebraska in August 1968. He was considered co-favorite with America’s Mike Burton, a long-distance specialist who was even better at 800 and 1,500 metres. Burton had been sick in Mexico City and almost withdrew, and then started the 400 final by false starting. But when the race started for real he quickly moved to the lead. He and Hutton then exchanged the lead over the next few laps until Burton moved ahead at 300 metres. At that point Burton’s strength proved crucial and he pulled further away on the final two laps to win over Hutton by 2.7 seconds. Alain Mosconi (FRA), twice a world record holder in the event, swam a tactical race for the bronze medal. A few days later, Burton would come back and win the 1,500 metres, a gold medal which he would repeat in 1972.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Mike Burton	USA	4:19.3 (1 h3)	4:09.0 (1)	Gold
2	Ralph Hutton	CAN	4:21.0 (1 h5)	4:11.7 (2)	Silver
3	Alain Mosconi	FRA	4:19.0 (1 h4)	4:13.3 (3)	Bronze
4	Greg Brough	AUS	4:19.6 (2 h3)	4:15.9 (4)
5	Graham White	AUS	4:17.0 (1 h2)	4:16.7 (5)
6	John Nelson	USA	4:18.7 (1 h1)	4:17.2 (6)
7	Hans Faßnacht	FRG	4:20.7 (2 h6)	4:18.1 (7)
8	Brent Berk	USA	4:20.2 (1 h6)	4:26.0 (8)
=9	Semyon Belits-Geyman	URS	4:22.7 (2 h2)	–
=9	Greg Rogers	AUS	4:22.7 (2 h4)	–
11	Guillermo Echevarría	MEX	4:24.0 (3 h2)	–
12	Gunnar Larsson	SWE	4:25.0 (2 h5)	–
13	Julio Arango	COL	4:25.8 (4 h2)	–
14	Alfred Müller	GDR	4:26.4 (5 h2)	–
15	Juan Alanís	MEX	4:27.4 (3 h6)	–
16	Ron Jacks	CAN	4:29.4 (4 h6)	–
17	Francis Luyce	FRA	4:30.3 (2 h1)	–
18	Jean-François Ravelinghien	FRA	4:30.7 (3 h3)	–
19	Władysław Wojtakajtis	POL	4:31.1 (3 h1)	–
20	Pano Capéronis	SUI	4:31.4 (3 h5)	–
21	Ørjan Madsen	NOR	4:31.8 (4 h5)	–
22	Werner Krammel	FRG	4:34.0 (4 h3)	–
23	Jorge Urreta	MEX	4:34.3 (5 h3)	–
24	Sven von Holst	SWE	4:35.0 (5 h5)	–
25	Akhmed Anarbayev	URS	4:35.1 (3 h4)	–
26	Fernando González	ECU	4:35.3 (4 h4)	–
27	Mátyás Borlói	HUN	4:35.4 (4 h1)	–
28	Jorge González	PUR	4:38.1 (5 h6)	–
29	Gregorio Fiallo	CUB	4:41.5 (5 h1)	–
=30	Csaba Csatlós	HUN	4:47.6 (6 h2)	–
=30	Tony Asamali	PHI	4:47.6 (6 h5)	–
32	Rubén Guerrero	ESA	4:50.8 (6 h6)	–
33	Michael Goodner	PUR	5:00.2 (6 h1)	–
34	Andrew Loh	HKG	5:03.6 (7 h5)	–
35	Ronnie Wong	HKG	5:05.7 (6 h3)	–
36	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	5:09.2 (5 h4)	–
37	Bob Loh	HKG	5:10.1 (7 h2)	–
DNS	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	José Alvarado	ESA	– (DNS h4)	–
DNS	Roosevelt Abdulgafur	PHI	– (DNS h4)	–
DNS	Tony Jarvis	GBR	– (DNS h6)	–

Round One (22 October 1968 — 10:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	5	John Nelson	USA	1:02.2 (1) 1:05.9 (1)	2:08.1 (1) 1:06.3 (1)	3:14.4 (1) 1:04.3 (1)	4:18.7	Q
2	2	Francis Luyce	FRA	1:03.4 (=2) 1:07.8 (3)	2:11.2 (=2) 1:09.9 (2)	3:21.1 (2) 1:09.2 (2)	4:30.3
3	7	Władysław Wojtakajtis	POL	1:03.8 (4) 1:07.4 (2)	2:11.2 (=2) 1:10.1 (4)	3:21.3 (3) 1:09.8 (3)	4:31.1
4	3	Mátyás Borlói	HUN	1:03.4 (=2) 1:10.2 (4)	2:13.6 (4) 1:10.0 (3)	3:23.6 (4) 1:11.8 (4)	4:35.4
5	4	Gregorio Fiallo	CUB	1:05.5 (6) 1:10.4 (5)	2:15.9 (5) 1:11.8 (5)	3:27.7 (5) 1:13.8 (5)	4:41.5
6	6	Michael Goodner	PUR	1:05.4 (5) 1:13.4 (6)	2:18.8 (6) 1:19.5 (6)	3:38.3 (6) 1:21.9 (6)	5:00.2
DNS	–	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	2	Graham White	AUS	1:01.0 (1) 1:05.5 (1)	2:06.5 (1) 1:06.4 (1)	3:12.9 (1) 1:04.1 (1)	4:17.0	Q
2	5	Semyon Belits-Geyman	URS	1:03.7 (=3) 1:07.8 (2)	2:11.5 (2) 1:06.6 (=2)	3:18.1 (2) 1:04.6 (2)	4:22.7
3	4	Guillermo Echevarría	MEX	1:03.7 (=3) 1:08.0 (=3)	2:11.7 (4) 1:06.6 (=2)	3:18.3 (3) 1:05.7 (3)	4:24.0
4	3	Julio Arango	COL	1:03.6 (2) 1:08.0 (=3)	2:11.6 (3) 1:07.1 (4)	3:18.7 (4) 1:07.1 (5)	4:25.8
5	1	Alfred Müller	GDR	1:03.9 (5) 1:08.6 (5)	2:12.5 (5) 1:08.0 (5)	3:20.5 (5) 1:05.9 (4)	4:26.4
6	7	Csaba Csatlós	HUN	1:04.2 (6) 1:12.3 (6)	2:16.5 (6) 1:16.3 (7)	3:32.8 (6) 1:14.8 (6)	4:47.6
7	6	Bob Loh	HKG	1:06.7 (7) 1:18.0 (7)	2:24.7 (7) 1:11.3 (6)	3:36.0 (7) 1:34.1 (7)	5:10.1

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	2	Mike Burton	USA	1:01.8 (1) 1:05.8 (2)	2:07.6 (1) 1:06.9 (2)	3:14.5 (2) 1:04.8 (1)	4:19.3	Q
2	7	Greg Brough	AUS	1:02.3 (2) 1:05.6 (1)	2:07.9 (2) 1:06.4 (1)	3:14.3 (1) 1:05.3 (2)	4:19.6	Q
3	3	Jean-François Ravelinghien	FRA	1:05.1 (6) 1:09.4 (3)	2:14.5 (5) 1:09.1 (3)	3:23.6 (3) 1:07.1 (3)	4:30.7
4	6	Werner Krammel	FRG	1:03.3 (3) 1:09.9 (5)	2:13.2 (3) 1:11.7 (5)	3:24.9 (4) 1:09.1 (4)	4:34.0
5	5	Jorge Urreta	MEX	1:04.1 (4) 1:09.7 (4)	2:13.8 (4) 1:11.3 (4)	3:25.1 (5) 1:09.2 (5)	4:34.3
6	4	Ronnie Wong	HKG	1:04.7 (5) 1:17.6 (6)	2:22.3 (6) 1:22.3 (6)	3:44.6 (6) 1:21.1 (6)	5:05.7

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	5	Alain Mosconi	FRA	1:01.8 (2) 1:05.6 (1)	2:07.4 (1) 1:05.7 (1)	3:13.1 (1) 1:05.9 (2)	4:19.0	Q
2	4	Greg Rogers	AUS	1:01.7 (1) 1:07.5 (2)	2:09.2 (2) 1:07.9 (2)	3:17.1 (2) 1:05.6 (1)	4:22.7
3	2	Akhmed Anarbayev	URS	1:05.8 (4) 1:12.6 (4)	2:18.4 (4) 1:08.6 (3)	3:27.0 (4) 1:08.1 (3)	4:35.1
4	6	Fernando González	ECU	1:03.4 (3) 1:10.5 (3)	2:13.9 (3) 1:11.0 (4)	3:24.9 (3) 1:10.4 (4)	4:35.3
5	3	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	1:10.5 (5) –	– (–) –	3:50.5 (5) 1:18.7 (5)	5:09.2
DNS	–	José Alvarado	ESA	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Roosevelt Abdulgafur	PHI	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	4	Ralph Hutton	CAN	1:02.7 (1) 1:06.1 (1)	2:08.8 (1) 1:06.4 (1)	3:15.2 (1) 1:05.8 (3)	4:21.0	Q
2	7	Gunnar Larsson	SWE	1:04.3 (3) 1:07.4 (2)	2:11.7 (2) 1:08.2 (2)	3:19.9 (2) 1:05.1 (2)	4:25.0
3	5	Pano Capéronis	SUI	1:06.1 (6) 1:10.2 (6)	2:16.3 (6) 1:10.8 (=4)	3:27.1 (5) 1:04.3 (1)	4:31.4
4	6	Ørjan Madsen	NOR	1:04.7 (4) 1:09.1 (4)	2:13.8 (4) 1:10.3 (3)	3:24.1 (3) 1:07.7 (4)	4:31.8
5	1	Sven von Holst	SWE	1:05.2 (5) 1:09.5 (5)	2:14.7 (5) 1:10.8 (=4)	3:25.5 (4) 1:09.5 (5)	4:35.0
6	3	Tony Asamali	PHI	1:04.1 (2) 1:08.9 (3)	2:13.0 (3) 1:15.5 (6)	3:28.5 (6) 1:19.1 (7)	4:47.6
7	2	Andrew Loh	HKG	1:10.8 (7) 1:18.7 (7)	2:29.5 (7) 1:16.1 (7)	3:45.6 (7) 1:18.0 (6)	5:03.6

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	4	Brent Berk	USA	1:01.9 (1) 1:06.3 (2)	2:08.2 (1) 1:06.7 (1)	3:14.9 (1) 1:05.3 (2)	4:20.2	Q
2	6	Hans Faßnacht	FRG	1:02.7 (3) 1:06.2 (1)	2:08.9 (2) 1:07.3 (2)	3:16.2 (2) 1:04.5 (1)	4:20.7	Q
3	7	Juan Alanís	MEX	1:02.3 (2) 1:07.0 (3)	2:09.3 (3) 1:08.8 (3)	3:18.1 (3) 1:09.3 (4)	4:27.4
4	2	Ron Jacks	CAN	1:04.2 (4) 1:08.5 (4)	2:12.7 (4) 1:08.9 (4)	3:21.6 (4) 1:07.8 (3)	4:29.4
5	5	Jorge González	PUR	1:06.0 (5) 1:10.3 (5)	2:16.3 (5) 1:11.9 (5)	3:28.2 (5) 1:09.9 (5)	4:38.1
6	3	Rubén Guerrero	ESA	1:07.4 (6) 1:14.1 (6)	2:21.5 (6) 1:15.0 (6)	3:36.5 (6) 1:14.3 (6)	4:50.8
DNS	–	Tony Jarvis	GBR	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Final (23 October 1968 — 17:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	6	Mike Burton	USA	1:00.6 (2) 1:03.2 (1)	2:03.8 (1) 1:03.6 (1)	3:07.4 (1) 1:01.6 (1)	4:09.0	OR
2	8	Ralph Hutton	CAN	1:00.4 (1) 1:04.0 (2)	2:04.4 (2) 1:03.9 (2)	3:08.3 (2) 1:03.4 (=4)	4:11.7
3	3	Alain Mosconi	FRA	1:01.4 (3) 1:04.7 (3)	2:06.1 (3) 1:04.1 (3)	3:10.2 (3) 1:03.1 (3)	4:13.3
4	2	Greg Brough	AUS	1:02.1 (7) 1:05.5 (6)	2:07.6 (6) 1:04.9 (4)	3:12.5 (5) 1:03.4 (=4)	4:15.9
5	4	Graham White	AUS	1:02.0 (6) 1:05.4 (5)	2:07.4 (5) 1:06.8 (7)	3:14.2 (7) 1:02.5 (2)	4:16.7
6	5	John Nelson	USA	1:01.7 (4) 1:04.9 (4)	2:06.6 (4) 1:05.1 (5)	3:11.7 (4) 1:05.5 (7)	4:17.2
7	1	Hans Faßnacht	FRG	1:02.2 (8) 1:05.8 (7)	2:08.0 (8) 1:05.7 (6)	3:13.7 (6) 1:04.4 (6)	4:18.1
8	7	Brent Berk	USA	1:01.8 (5) 1:06.1 (8)	2:07.9 (7) 1:09.5 (8)	3:17.4 (8) 1:08.6 (8)	4:26.0