| | Event type
400 metres Breaststroke, Men
| Date | 8 – 12 July 1912 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Simstadion, Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, Stockholm |
| Participants | 17 from 10 countries |
This event appeared on the Olympic Programme for one of only three times - 1904 (at 440 yards), 1912, and 1920. Walter Bathe (GER) won his second breaststroke gold medal, adding this to the title he had won at 200 metres two days earlier. Bathe took an early lead, being ahead by four metres at the first turn (100 metres), and led by 10 metres at the 250 metre mark. He won easily.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | R1 | SF | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe |  GER | 6:34.6 (1 h5) | 6:32.0 (1 h1) | 6:29.6 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Thor Henning |  SWE | 6:52.4 (1 h1) | 6:32.0 (2 h1) | 6:35.6 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Percy Courtman |  GBR | 6:43.8 (1 h4) | 6:36.6 (3 h1) | 6:36.4 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Paul Malisch | GER | 6:47.0 (1 h2) | 6:47.6 (2 h2) | 6:37.0 (4) | |||
| AC r3/3 | Willy Lützow | GER | 6:49.8 (1 h3) | 6:44.6 (1 h2) | – ( | DNF | ||
| 3 h2 r2/3 | Arvo Aaltonen |  FIN | 6:48.8 (2 h4) | 6:56.8 (3 h2) | – | |||
| 4 h1 r2/3 | Félicien Courbet |  BEL | 6:52.6 (2 h3) | 6:59.8 (4 h1) | – | |||
| 4 h2 r2/3 | Lennart Lindroos | FIN | 7:00.0 (2 h2) | 7:00.4 (4 h2) | – | |||
| AC h1 r2/3 | Zeno von Singalewicz |  AUT | 7:04.0 (3 h3) | – (DNF h1) | – | DNF | ||
| AC h2 r2/3 | George Innocent | GBR | 7:07.8 (2 h1) | – (DNF h2) | – | DNF | ||
| 2 h5 r1/3 | Yury Baymakov |  RUS | 7:28.6 (2 h5) | – (DNS h1) | – | |||
| 3 h2 r1/3 | Nils Andersson | SWE | 7:17.0 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 3 h4 r1/3 | Vilhelm Lindgrén | FIN | 7:12.6 (3 h4) | – | – | |||
| 4 h3 r1/3 | Frank Schryver |  ANZ | 7:07.8 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| AC h1 r1/3 | Josef Wastl | AUT | – (DNF h1) | – | – | DNF | ||
| AC h1 r1/3 | Oszkár Demján |  HUN | [6:35.8] (DQ h1) | – | – | DQ | ||
| AC h2 r1/3 | Mike McDermott |  USA | [7:07.0] (DQ h2) | – | – | DQ | ||
| Rudolf Dlouchy | AUT | – (DNS h5) | – | – | ||||
| Herman Cederberg | FIN | – (DNS h5) | – | – | ||||
| Louis Laufray |  FRA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Henri Dubois | FRA | – (DNS h3) | – | – | ||||
| Victor Pierre Eggman | FRA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Louis André Fanger | FRA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Paul Harfort | FRA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Georges Lefevre | FRA | – (DNS h1) | – | – | ||||
| Sam Blatherwick | GBR | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Ödön Toldi | HUN | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Davide Baiardo |  ITA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Mario Massa | ITA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Virgilio Bellezza | ITA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Attilio Bellezza | ITA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Aldo Cigheri | ITA | – (DNS h5) | – | – | ||||
| Mario Pratolongo | ITA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Audun Rusten |  NOR | – (DNS h1) | – | – | ||||
| George Godfrey |  RSA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Arno Almqvist | RUS | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Pavel Avksentyev | RUS | – (DNS h3) | – | – | ||||
| Nikolay Voronkov | RUS | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Harald Julin | SWE | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Pontus Hanson | SWE | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Sven Henning | SWE | – (DNS h4) | – | – |
Round One
| Date | 8 July 1912 — 12:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top two in each heat and the fastest third-place advanced to the semi-finals. |
Heat #1
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thor Henning | SWE | 6:52.4 | ||
| 2 | George Innocent | GBR | 7:07.8 | ||
| Josef Wastl | AUT | – | |||
| Oszkár Demján | HUN | [6:35.8] | |||
| Georges Lefevre | FRA | – | |||
| Audun Rusten | NOR | – |
Heat #2
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Malisch | GER | 6:47.0 | ||
| 2 | Lennart Lindroos | FIN | 7:00.0 | ||
| 3 | Nils Andersson | SWE | 7:17.0 | ||
| Mike McDermott | USA | [7:07.0] | |||
| Victor Pierre Eggman | FRA | – | 1 | ||
| Paul Harfort | FRA | – | 2 | ||
| Sam Blatherwick | GBR | – | 3 | ||
| Davide Baiardo | ITA | – | 4 | ||
| Virgilio Bellezza | ITA | – | 5 | ||
| Attilio Bellezza | ITA | – | 6 | ||
| Arno Almqvist | RUS | – | 7 | ||
| Pontus Hanson | SWE | – | 8 |
Heat #3
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Willy Lützow | GER | 6:49.8 | ||
| 2 | Félicien Courbet | BEL | 6:52.6 | ||
| 3 | Zeno von Singalewicz | AUT | 7:04.0 | ||
| 4 | Frank Schryver | ANZ | 7:07.8 | ||
| Henri Dubois | FRA | – | |||
| Pavel Avksentyev | RUS | – |
Heat #4
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Percy Courtman | GBR | 6:43.8 | ||
| 2 | Arvo Aaltonen | FIN | 6:48.8 | ||
| 3 | Vilhelm Lindgrén | FIN | 7:12.6 | ||
| Louis Laufray | FRA | – | 9 | ||
| Louis André Fanger | FRA | – | 10 | ||
| Ödön Toldi | HUN | – | 11 | ||
| Mario Massa | ITA | – | 12 | ||
| Mario Pratolongo | ITA | – | 13 | ||
| George Godfrey | RSA | – | 14 | ||
| Nikolay Voronkov | RUS | – | 15 | ||
| Harald Julin | SWE | – | 16 | ||
| Sven Henning | SWE | – | 17 |
Heat #5
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe | GER | 6:34.6 | ||
| 2 | Yury Baymakov | RUS | 7:28.6 | ||
| Rudolf Dlouchy | AUT | – | |||
| Herman Cederberg | FIN | – | |||
| Aldo Cigheri | ITA | – |
Semi-Finals
| Date | 11 July 1912 — 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top two in each heat and the fastest third-place advanced to the final. |
Heat #1
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe | GER | 6:32.0 | ||
| 2 | Thor Henning | SWE | 6:32.0 | ||
| 3 | Percy Courtman | GBR | 6:36.6 | ||
| 4 | Félicien Courbet | BEL | 6:59.8 | ||
| Zeno von Singalewicz | AUT | – | |||
| Yury Baymakov | RUS | – |
Heat #2
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Willy Lützow | GER | 6:44.6 | ||
| 2 | Paul Malisch | GER | 6:47.6 | ||
| 3 | Arvo Aaltonen | FIN | 6:56.8 | ||
| 4 | Lennart Lindroos | FIN | 7:00.4 | ||
| George Innocent | GBR | – |
Final
| Date | 12 July 1912 — 19:35 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe | GER | 6:29.6 | ||
| 2 | Thor Henning | SWE | 6:35.6 | ||
| 3 | Percy Courtman | GBR | 6:36.4 | ||
| 4 | Paul Malisch | GER | 6:37.0 | ||
| Willy Lützow | GER | – |