# Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The men's 400 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships took place July 24. The heats and final took place on July 24.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record Championship record | Paul Biedermann | Germany | 3:40.07 | Rome | July 26, 2009 |

## Results
### Heats

49 swimmers participated in 7 heats, qualified swimmers are listed:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | 4 | Sun Yang | China | 3:44.87 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | Peter Vanderkaay | United States | 3:45.02 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | Paul Biedermann | Germany | 3:45.18 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 5 | Oussama Mellouli | Tunisia | 3:45.90 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 6 | Sébastien Rouault | France | 3:46.20 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Yannick Agnel | France | 3:46.72 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 4 | Park Tae-Hwan | South Korea | 3:46.74 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 3 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 3:46.88 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 6 | Samuel Pizzetti | Italy | 3:47.12 | |
| 10 | 6 | 2 | Gergő Kis | Hungary | 3:47.26 | |
| 11 | 6 | 1 | Dai Jun | China | 3:47.58 | |
| 12 | 7 | 1 | Mads Glæsner | Denmark | 3:48.41 | |
| 13 | 7 | 5 | Ryan Napoleon | Australia | 3:48.54 | |
| 14 | 5 | 6 | Charlie Houchin | United States | 3:48.80 | |
| 15 | 5 | 1 | David Carry | Great Britain | 3:48.89 | |
| 16 | 5 | 8 | Heerden Herman | South Africa | 3:49.55 | |
| 17 | 7 | 8 | Sho Uchida | Japan | 3:49.70 | |
| 18 | 7 | 7 | Robert Renwick | Great Britain | 3:49.91 | |
| 19 | 7 | 3 | Thomas Fraser-Holmes | Australia | 3:50.71 | |
| 20 | 4 | 2 | Juan Martin Pereyra | Argentina | 3:51.03 | NR |
| 21 | 7 | 2 | Clemens Rapp | Germany | 3:51.07 | |
| 22 | 5 | 7 | Dominik Meichtry | Switzerland | 3:51.32 | |
| 23 | 4 | 1 | Cristian Quintero | Venezuela | 3:52.73 | |
| 24 | 5 | 2 | Nikita Lobintsev | Russia | 3:53.52 | |
| 25 | 4 | 5 | David Brandl | Austria | 3:54.73 | |
| 26 | 4 | 3 | Velimir Stjepanović | Serbia | 3:54.87 | |
| 27 | 6 | 8 | Sergiy Frolov | Ukraine | 3:55.01 | |
| 28 | 3 | 3 | Mohamed Farhoud | Egypt | 3:55.32 | |
| 29 | 4 | 7 | Mateo de Angulo | Colombia | 3:55.92 | |
| 30 | 4 | 4 | Dylan Dunlop-Barrett | New Zealand | 3:56.04 | |
| 31 | 4 | 6 | Mateusz Sawrymowicz | Poland | 3:56.22 | |
| 32 | 4 | 8 | Raul Martinez | Puerto Rico | 3:58.35 | |
| 33 | 3 | 2 | Sobitjon Amilov | Uzbekistan | 3:59.01 | |
| 34 | 3 | 6 | Mario Montoya | Costa Rica | 4:00.88 | |
| 35 | 3 | 5 | Sebastián Jahnsen Madico | Peru | 4:00.93 | |
| 36 | 3 | 4 | Irakli Revishvili | Georgia | 4:02.97 | |
| 37 | 3 | 7 | Pavol Jelenak | Slovakia | 4:03.82 | |
| 38 | 3 | 8 | Emanuele Nicolini | San Marino | 4:04.38 | |
| 39 | 2 | 4 | Allan Gutierrez | Honduras | 4:06.56 | |
| 40 | 3 | 1 | Nicholas Schwab | Dominican Republic | 4:08.40 | |
| 40 | 6 | 7 | Ahmed Mathlouthi | Tunisia | 4:08.40 | |
| 42 | 2 | 3 | Mattew Abeysinghe | Sri Lanka | 4:09.45 | |
| 43 | 2 | 5 | Iacovos Hadjiconstantinou | Cyprus | 4:13.53 | |
| 44 | 2 | 6 | Gebrel Ahmed | Palestine | 4:18.40 | |
| 45 | 2 | 7 | Douglas Miller | Fiji | 4:20.74 | |
| 46 | 2 | 2 | Heimanu Sichan | French Polynesia | 4:21.24 | |
| 47 | 1 | 4 | Anderson Lim | Brunei | 4:34.95 | |
| 48 | 1 | 5 | Ryan Govinden | Seychelles | 4:55.10 | |
| 49 | 1 | 3 | Chamraen Youri Maximov | Cambodia | 4:55.35 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:13.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 1 | Park Tae-Hwan | South Korea | 3:42.04 |
| | 4 | Sun Yang | China | 3:43.24 |
| | 3 | Paul Biedermann | Germany | 3:44.14 |
| 4 | 5 | Peter Vanderkaay | United States | 3:44.83 |
| 5 | 8 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 3:45.17 |
| 6 | 7 | Yannick Agnel | France | 3:45.24 |
| 7 | 6 | Oussama Mellouli | Tunisia | 3:45.31 |
| 8 | 2 | Sébastien Rouault | France | 3:47.66 |