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 Tuesday, 22 July.Heats
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pierre Andraca | | 4:00.34 | |
| 2 | Brett Naylor | | 4:00.38 | |
| 3 | Rainer Strohbach | | 4:02.24 | |
| 4 | Stefan Wenz | | 4:06.25 | |
| 5 | Kevin Williamson | | 4:09.60 | |
| 6 | Sigurður Ólafsson | | 4:18.11 | |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Djan Madruga | | 3:59.62 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Frank Pfütze | | 4:04.66 | |
| 3 | Tom Alexander | | 4:05.63 | |
| 4 | Bengt Jönsson | | 4:07.28 | |
| 5 | Borut Petrič | | 4:07.54 | |
| 6 | Lutz Löscher | | 4:12.88 | |
| 7 | Kris Sumono | | 4:17.48 | |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Volodymyr Raskatov | | 3:57.56 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Bill Sawchuk | | 4:02.18 | |
| 3 | István Koczka | | 4:03.75 | |
| 4 | Peter Pettersson | | 4:04.15 | |
| 5 | Graham Windeatt | | 4:04.31 | |
| 6 | Frank Richardson | | 4:40.76 | |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Holland | | 3:58.39 | Q |
| 2 | Steve Badger | | 4:00.14 | Q |
| 3 | Henk Elzerman | | 4:02.16 | |
| 4 | Vladimir Salnikov | | 4:02.79 | |
| 5 | Georgios Karpouzis | | 4:12.41 | |
| 6 | Andreas Schmidt | | 4:14.36 | |
| 7 | Rui Abreu | | 4:28.43 | |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vladimir Mikheyev | | 4:00.20 | Q |
| 2 | Casey Converse | | 4:00.65 | |
| 3 | Alan McClatchey | | 4:02.09 | |
| 4 | Werner Lampe | | 4:03.04 | |
| 5 | Arne Borgstrøm | | 4:03.49 | |
| 6 | Gerhard Waldmann | | 4:09.54 | |
| 7 | Edwin Borja | | 4:18.97 | |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Tim Shaw | | 3:56.40 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Zoltán Wladár | | 4:00.55 | |
| 3 | Gordon Downie | | 4:01.00 | |
| 4 | Bengt Gingsjö | | 4:04.68 | |
| 5 | Johan Van Steenberghe | | 4:08.28 | |
| 6 | Francisco Cañales | | 4:15.78 | |
Heat 7
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brian Goodell | | 3:55.24 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Sándor Nagy | | 4:00.02 | Q |
| 3 | Max Metzker | | 4:00.82 | |
| 4 | René van der Kuil | | 4:03.14 | |
| 5 | David López-Zubero | | 4:03.73 | |
| 6 | Andy Knowles | | 4:10.78 | |
| 7 | Tomas Becerra | | 4:14.73 | |
| 8 | Patrick Novaretti | | 4:20.62 | |
Final
