Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle
The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place between 22 and 23 October. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated. Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool.
Medalists
Results
Heats
Heat 1| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | John Nelson | 4:18.7 | ||
| 2 | Francis Luyce | 4:30.3 | ||
| 3 | Władysław Wojtakajtis | 4:31.1 | ||
| 4 | Mátyás Borlói | 4:35.4 | ||
| 5 | Gregorio Fiallo | 4:41.5 | ||
| 6 | Michael Goodner | 5:00.2 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Graham White | 4:17.0 | ||
| 2 | Semyon Belits-Geyman | 4:22.7 | ||
| 3 | Guillermo Echevarría | 4:24.0 | ||
| 4 | Julio Arango | 4:25.8 | ||
| 5 | Alfred Müller | 4:26.4 | ||
| 6 | Csaba Csatlós | 4:47.6 | ||
| 7 | Bob Loh | 5:10.1 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Mike Burton | 4:19.3 | ||
| 2 | Greg Brough | 4:19.6 | ||
| 3 | Jean-François Ravelinghien | 4:30.7 | ||
| 4 | Werner Krammel | 4:34.0 | ||
| 5 | Jorge Urreta | 4:34.3 | ||
| 6 | Ronnie Wong | 5:05.7 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Alain Mosconi | 4:19.0 | ||
| 2 | Greg Rogers | 4:22.7 | ||
| 3 | Akhmed Anarbayev | 4:35.1 | ||
| 4 | Fernando González | 4:35.3 | ||
| 5 | Friedrich Jokisch | 5:09.2 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Ralph Hutton | 4:21.0 | ||
| 2 | Gunnar Larsson | 4:25.0 | ||
| 3 | Pano Capéronis | 4:31.4 | ||
| 4 | Ørjan Madsen | 4:31.8 | ||
| 5 | Sven von Holst | 4:35.0 | ||
| 6 | Tony Asamali | 4:47.6 | ||
| 7 | Andrew Loh | 5:03.6 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Brent Berk | 4:20.2 | ||
| 2 | Hans Faßnacht | 4:20.7 | ||
| 3 | Juan Alanís | 4:27.4 | ||
| 4 | Ron Jacks | 4:29.4 | ||
| 5 | Jorge González | 4:38.1 | ||
| 6 | Rubén Guerrero | 4:50.8 |
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| Mike Burton | 4:09.0 | OR | ||
| Ralph Hutton | 4:11.7 | |||
| Alain Mosconi | 4:13.3 | |||
| 4 | Greg Brough | 4:15.9 | ||
| 5 | Graham White | 4:16.7 | ||
| 6 | John Nelson | 4:17.2 | ||
| 7 | Hans Faßnacht | 4:18.1 | ||
| 8 | Brent Berk | 4:26.0 |
Key: OR = Olympic record