World record progression 400 metres individual medley

The first world record in the 400 metres individual medley in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognized by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1957, followed by the women a year later. In the short course (25 metres) swimming events the world's governing body recognizes world records since March 3, 1991.

Men

Long course

Time	Swimmer	Date	Place
5:15.6	Gary Heinrich	27 August 1957	Philadelphia, United States
5:12.9	Vladimir Strushanov	20 October 1957	Moscow, Soviet Union
5:08.8	Ian Black	6 June 1959	Cardiff, United Kingdom
5:07.8	George Harrison	24 June 1960	Los Angeles, United States
5:05.3	George Harrison	24 June 1960	Los Angeles, United States
5:04.5	Dennis Rounsaville	22 July 1960	Toledo, United States
5:04.3	Ted Stickles	1 July 1961	Chicago, United States
4:55.6	Ted Stickles	18 August 1961	Los Angeles, United States
4:53.8	Gerhard Hetz	24 May 1962	Moscow, Soviet Union
4:51.4	Ted Stickles	30 June 1962	Chicago, United States
4:51.0	Ted Stickles	12 July 1962	Louisville, United States
4:50.2	Gerhard Hetz	12 October 1963	Tokyo, Japan
4:48.6	Dick Roth	31 July 1964	Los Altos, United States
4:45.4	Dick Roth	14 October 1964	Tokyo, Japan
4:45.3	Andrei Dunayev	3 April 1968	Tallinn, Soviet Union
4:45.1	Greg Buckingham	6 July 1968	Santa Clara, United States
4:43.4	Gary Hall, Sr.	20 July 1968	Los Angeles, United States
4:43.3	Charlie Hickcox	30 August 1968	Long Beach, United States
4:39.0	Charlie Hickcox	30 August 1968	Long Beach, United States
4:38.7	Gary Hall, Sr.	11 July 1969	Santa Clara, United States
4:33.9	Gary Hall, Sr.	15 August 1969	Louisville, United States
4:31.0	Gary Hall, Sr.	21 August 1970	Los Angeles, United States
4:30.81	Gary Hall, Sr.	3 August 1972	Chicago, United States
4:28.89	András Hargitay	20 August 1974	Vienna, Austria
4:26.00	Zoltán Verrasztó	2 April 1976	Long Beach, United States
4:23.68	Rod Strachan	25 July 1976	Montreal, Canada
4:23.39	Jesse Vassallo	4 August 1978	The Woodlands, United States
4:20.05	Jesse Vassallo	28 August 1978	West Berlin, West Germany
4:19.78	Ricardo Prado	8 August 1982	Guayaquil, Ecuador
4:19.61	Jens-Peter Berndt	23 May 1984	Magdeburg, East Germany
4:17.53	Alex Baumann	17 June 1984	Etobicoke, Canada
4:17.41	Alex Baumann	30 July 1984	Los Angeles, United States
4:16.12	David Wharton	14 August 1987	Brisbane, Australia
4:15.42	Tamás Darnyi	19 August 1987	Strasbourg, France
4:14.75	Tamás Darnyi	21 September 1988	Seoul, South Korea
4:12.36	Tamás Darnyi	8 January 1991	Perth, Australia
4:12.30	Tom Dolan	11 September 1994	Rome, Italy
4:11.76	Tom Dolan	17 September 2000	Sydney, Australia
4:11.09	Michael Phelps	15 August 2002	Fort Lauderdale, United States
4:10.73	Michael Phelps	7 April 2003	Indianapolis, United States
4:09.09	Michael Phelps	27 July 2003	Barcelona, Spain
4:08.41	Michael Phelps	7 July 2004	Long Beach, United States
4:08.26	Michael Phelps	14 August 2004	Athens, Greece
4:06.22	Michael Phelps	1 April 2007	Melbourne, Australia
4:05.25	Michael Phelps	29 June 2008	Omaha, United States
4:03.84[1]	Michael Phelps	10 August 2008	Beijing, China

Short course

Time	Swimmer	Nationality	Date	Location
4:08.77	Sacchi, LucaLuca Sacchi	Italy	28 February 1992	Sheffield, United Kingdom
4:07.10	Sievinen, JaniJani Sievinen	Finland	9 February 1993	Malmö, Sweden
4:06.03	Sievinen, JaniJani Sievinen	Finland	20 January 1996	Lappeenranta, Finland
4:05.59	Wouda, MarcelMarcel Wouda	Netherlands	1 February 1997	Gelsenkirchen, Germany
4:05.41	Wouda, MarcelMarcel Wouda	Netherlands	8 February 1997	Paris, France
4:04.24	Dunn, MatthewMatthew Dunn	Australia	24 September 1998	Perth, Australia
4:02.72	Johns, BrianBrian Johns	Canada	23 February 2003	Victoria, Canada
4:00.37	Cseh, LászlóLászló Cseh	Hungary	9 December 2005	Trieste, Italy
3:59.33	Cseh, LászlóLászló Cseh	Hungary	14 December 2007	Debrecen, Hungary
3:57.27	Cseh, LászlóLászló Cseh	Hungary	11 December 2009	Istanbul, Turkey
3:55.50	Lochte, RyanRyan Lochte	United States	16 December 2010	Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Women

Long course

Time	Swimmer	Date	Place
5:46.6	Sylvia Ruuska	27 June 1958	Los Angeles, United States
5:43.7	Sylvia Ruuska	1 August 1958	Topeka, United States
5:41.1	Sylvia Ruuska	24 February 1959	Melbourne, Australia
5:40.2	Sylvia Ruuska	17 July 1959	Redding, United States
5:36.5	Donna de Varona	15 July 1960	Indianapolis, United States
5:34.5	Donna de Varona	11 August 1961	Philadelphia, United States
5:29.7	Donna de Varona	2 June 1962	Los Altos, United States
5:27.4	Sharon Finneran	26 July 1962	Osaka, Japan
5:24.7	Donna de Varona	26 July 1962	Osaka, Japan
5:21.9	Sharon Finneran	28 July 1962	Osaka, Japan
5:16.5	Donna de Varona	10 March 1964	Lima, Peru
5:14.9	Donna de Varona	30 August 1964	New York City, United States
5:11.7	Claudia Kolb	9 July 1967	Santa Clara, United States
5:09.7	Claudia Kolb	1 August 1967	Winnipeg, Canada
5:08.2	Claudia Kolb	19 August 1967	Philadelphia, United States
5:04.7	Claudia Kolb	24 August 1968	Los Angeles, United States
5:02.97	Gail Neall	9 July 1972	Munich, West Germany
5:01.10	Angela Franke	18 August 1973	Utrecht, Netherlands
4:57.51	Gudrun Wegner	6 September 1973	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
4:52.42	Ulrike Tauber	21 August 1974	Vienna, Austria
4:52.20	Ulrike Tauber	7 June 1975	Wittenberg, West Germany
4:48.79	Birgit Treiber	1 June 1976	East Berlin, East Germany
4:42.77	Ulrike Tauber	24 July 1976	Montreal, Canada
4:40.83	Tracy Caulkins	23 August 1978	West Berlin, West Germany
4:39.96	Petra Schneider	30 March 1980	Leningrad, Soviet Union
4:38.44	Petra Schneider	27 May 1980	Magdeburg, East Germany
4:36.29	Petra Schneider	26 July 1980	Moscow, Soviet Union
4:36.10	Petra Schneider	1 August 1982	Guayaquil, Ecuador
4:34.79	Chen Yan	13 October 1997	Shanghai, PR China
4:33.59	Yana Klochkova	16 September 2000	Sydney, Australia
4:32.89	Katie Hoff	1 April 2007	Melbourne, Australia
4:31.46	Stephanie Rice	22 March 2008	Sydney, Australia
4:31.12	Katie Hoff	29 June 2008	Omaha, United States
4:29.45	Stephanie Rice	10 August 2008	Beijing, China
4:28.43	Ye Shiwen	28 July 2012	London, United Kingdom
4:26.36	Katinka Hosszú	6 August 2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Short course

#	Time		Name	Nationality	Date	Meet	Location	Ref
	4:29.00		Guohong, DaiDai Guohong	China	2 December 1993	Short Course Worlds	Palma de Mallorca, Spain
	4:27.83		Klochkova, YanaYana Klochkova	Ukraine	20 January 2002	World Cup meet	Paris, France
	4:26.52		Coventry, KirstyKirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	9 April 2008	Short Course Worlds	Manchester, United Kingdom
	4:25.87		Smit, JuliaJulia Smit	USA	28 November 2008	Canada Cup	Toronto, Canada
	4:25.06		Belmonte, MireiaMireia Belmonte	Spain	14 December 2008	Short Course Europeans	Rijeka, Croatia
	4:22.80		Meaklim, KathrynKathryn Meaklim	South Africa	22 November 2009	World Cup meet	Singapore
	4:21.04		Smit, JuliaJulia Smit	USA	18 December 2009	Duel in the Pool	Manchester, United Kingdom
	4:20.85		Hosszú, KatinkaKatinka Hosszú	Hungary	11 Aug 2013	World Cup	Berlin, Germany	[2]
	4:20.83		Hosszú, KatinkaKatinka Hosszú	Hungary	28 Aug 2014	World Cup	Doha, Qatar	[3]
	4:19.86		Belmonte, MireiaMireia Belmonte	Spain	3 December 2014	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[4]
	4:19.46		Hosszú, KatinkaKatinka Hosszú	Hungary	2 December 2015	European Championships	Netanya, Israel	[5]

Legend: # – Record awaiting ratification by FINA;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

References

1. "Swimming Men's 400m Individual Medley Results". Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. 2008-08-10.
2. "Women's 400m Individual medley Result". Omega Timing. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
3. "Women's 400m Individual medley Result". Omega Timing. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
4. "Women's 400m IM Results". Omega Timing. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
5. "Katinka Hosszu's World Record Highlights Sizzling Day 1 Prelims at 2015 Euro SCs". Swimming World Magazine. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.

• (Dutch) Zwemkroniek
• (Italian) Agenda Diana