| Date | 5 September 1904 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Life Saving Exhibition Lake, Forest Park, St. Louis | |
| Participants | 7 from 3 countries | |
| Format | Final only. | |
There were seven swimmers in the mile swim, with four countries represented, which was almost unheard of for any event of the 1904 Olympics. For the first half of the race, the swimmers contented themselves with a steady even pace and nobody took a significant lead. Near the end, Géza Kiss (HUN) and Emil Rausch (GER) pulled away from the other competitors. Rausch easily then distanced himself from Kiss, and won the race with a margin described in the papers as 65 feet, and listed in some results as one minute and 10 seconds.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Time | 550 yd | 660 yd | 770 yd | 880 yd | 990 yd | 1,100 yd | 1,210 yd | 1,320 yd | 1,430 yd | 1,540 yd | 1,650 yd | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Emil Rausch |  GER | 27:18.2 | – (–) | 9:55.4 (1) | 11:39.6 (1) | 13:11.6 (1) | 15:08.4 (1) | 16:52.4 (1) | 18:40.2 (1) | 20:25.0 (1) | 22:10.2 (1) | 23:57.2 (1) | 25:44.0 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 19 | Géza Kiss |  HUN | 28:28.2 | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 44 | Frank Gailey |  USA | 28:54.0 | 8:12.2 (1) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | – | Otto Wahle | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | |||
| – | John Meyers | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| 16 | Lou Handley | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| 40 | Edgar Adams | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| 17 | Budd Goodwin | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| 15 | George Van Cleaf | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| 12 | Joe Ruddy | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| 13 | David Bratton | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | ||||
| – | Arthur C. Meyers | USA | – | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) | – (–) |
