| Event: | Men's 400 metre freestyle |
| Competition: | 2002 Commonwealth Games |
| Venue: | Manchester Aquatics Centre |
| Dates: | 30 July 2002 |
| Win Value: | 3 minutes 40.08 seconds |
| Gold: | Ian Thorpe |
| Goldnoc: | AUS |
| Silver: | Grant Hackett |
| Silvernoc: | AUS |
| Bronze: | Graeme Smith |
| Bronzenoc: | SCO |
| Prev: | 1998 |
| Next: | 2006 |
The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place 30 July. Both the heats and final were held on 30 July.
Prior to this competition, the existing records were as follows;
The following records were established during the competition:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:40.08 | WR | |||
| 3:43.48 | ||||
| 3:49.40 | ||||
| 4 | 3:49.84 | |||
| 5 | 3:51.88 | |||
| 6 | 3:53.35 | |||
| 7 | 3:53.55 | |||
| 8 | 3:56.25 | |||
Key: WR = World record
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 3:47.24 | Q | |||
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 3:49.13 | Q | |||
| 3 | 1 | 4 | 3:50.19 | Q | |||
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 3:52.39 | Q | |||
| 5 | 3 | 5 | 3:52.78 | Q | |||
| 6 | 2 | 5 | 3:53.89 | Q | |||
| 7 | 3 | 3 | 3:55.15 | Q | |||
| 8 | 1 | 5 | 3:55.28 | Q | |||
| 9 | 2 | 3 | 3:55.67 | ||||
| 10 | 2 | 6 | 3:55.79 | ||||
| 11 | 3 | 6 | 3:56.10 | ||||
| 12 | 1 | 6 | 3:56.88 | ||||
| 13 | 3 | 2 | 4:06.78 | ||||
| 14 | 2 | 2 | 4:18.00 | ||||
| 15 | 3 | 7 | 4:23.59 | ||||
| 16 | 2 | 7 | 4:27.73 | ||||
| 17 | 1 | 7 | 4:54.15 | ||||
| 1 | 2 | DNS |