# Swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The men's 400 metre freestyle event for the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal. The event took place on Thursday, 22 July.

## Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Pierre Andraca | France | 4:00.34 |
| 2 | Brett Naylor | New Zealand | 4:00.38 |
| 3 | Rainer Strohbach | East Germany | 4:02.24 |
| 4 | Stefan Wenz | West Germany | 4:06.25 |
| 5 | Kevin Williamson | Ireland | 4:09.60 |
| 6 | Sigurður Ólafsson | Iceland | 4:18.11 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Djan Madruga | Brazil | 3:59.62 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Frank Pfütze | East Germany | 4:04.66 | |
| 3 | Tom Alexander | Canada | 4:05.63 | |
| 4 | Bengt Jönsson | Sweden | 4:07.28 | |
| 5 | Borut Petrič | Yugoslavia | 4:07.54 | |
| 6 | Lutz Löscher | East Germany | 4:12.88 | |
| 7 | Kris Sumono | Indonesia | 4:17.48 | |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Volodymyr Raskatov | Soviet Union | 3:57.56 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Bill Sawchuk | Canada | 4:02.18 | |
| 3 | István Koczka | Hungary | 4:03.75 | |
| 4 | Peter Pettersson | Sweden | 4:04.15 | |
| 5 | Graham Windeatt | Australia | 4:04.31 | |
| 6 | Frank Richardson | Nicaragua | 4:40.76 | |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Holland | Australia | 3:58.39 | Q |
| 2 | Steve Badger | Canada | 4:00.14 | Q |
| 3 | Henk Elzerman | Netherlands | 4:02.16 | |
| 4 | Vladimir Salnikov | Soviet Union | 4:02.79 | |
| 5 | Georgios Karpouzis | Greece | 4:12.41 | |
| 6 | Andreas Schmidt | West Germany | 4:14.36 | |
| 7 | Rui Abreu | Portugal | 4:28.43 | |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vladimir Mikheyev | Soviet Union | 4:00.20 | Q |
| 2 | Casey Converse | United States | 4:00.65 | |
| 3 | Alan McClatchey | Great Britain | 4:02.09 | |
| 4 | Werner Lampe | West Germany | 4:03.04 | |
| 5 | Arne Borgstrøm | Norway | 4:03.49 | |
| 6 | Gerhard Waldmann | Switzerland | 4:09.54 | |
| 7 | Edwin Borja | Philippines | 4:18.97 | |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Tim Shaw | United States | 3:56.40 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Zoltán Wladár | Hungary | 4:00.55 | |
| 3 | Gordon Downie | Great Britain | 4:01.00 | |
| 4 | Bengt Gingsjö | Sweden | 4:04.68 | |
| 5 | Johan Van Steenberghe | Belgium | 4:08.28 | |
| 6 | Francisco Cañales | Puerto Rico | 4:15.78 | |
Heat 7
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brian Goodell | United States | 3:55.24 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Sándor Nagy | Hungary | 4:00.02 | Q |
| 3 | Max Metzker | Australia | 4:00.82 | |
| 4 | René van der Kuil | Netherlands | 4:03.14 | |
| 5 | David López-Zubero | Spain | 4:03.73 | |
| 6 | Andy Knowles | Bahamas | 4:10.78 | |
| 7 | Tomas Becerra | Colombia | 4:14.73 | |
| 8 | Patrick Novaretti | Monaco | 4:20.62 | |

## Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Brian Goodell | United States | 3:51.93 | WR |
| | Tim Shaw | United States | 3:52.54 | |
| | Volodymyr Raskatov | Soviet Union | 3:55.76 | |
| 4 | Djan Madruga | Brazil | 3:57.18 | |
| 5 | Steve Holland | Australia | 3:57.59 | |
| 6 | Sándor Nagy | Hungary | 3:57.81 | |
| 7 | Vladimir Mikheyev | Soviet Union | 4:00.79 | |
| 8 | Steve Badger | Canada | 4:20.83 | |