The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 28 and 29 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT).

[5][6] Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 1:46.79 for this event.

Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.