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

Short course

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

Women

Long course

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

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