Swimming Level is a data-driven swimming standards platform created by Michael Clark in 2021. Our 2026 standards analyse 580,828 swims submitted by 229,874 users from 2021 to 2026 to compare your swimming performance with other swimmers, accounting for gender, distance and age.
Swimming Level covers 39 standard distances across sprints and endurance swims, including 25m, 50m, 100m, 400m, 1500m and 5k, with metre, yard, kilometre and mile distances.
We build our current standards from carefully filtered calculator results submitted by swimmers. We check for implausible times, duplicates, automated entries and unusual submission patterns before fitting the models. This allows us to publish community-based standards from short sprints to long endurance events. Where a distance does not have its own model, we estimate its standards from related events.
The Swimming Level Calculator takes in your distance and time and compares your performance with swimmers of the same gender and age. It can then tell you your percentile and level from Beginner to Elite plus extra stats like equivalent times for other distances, your 100m pace and, for yard input, your 100 yard pace. Then our Swimming Times allow you to browse and analyse male and female standards across ages and distances.
Swimming Level has used age adjusted percentile ratings since its launch in 2021. The framework comes from Strength Level, which introduced data-backed percentile standards in 2015 using levels from Beginner to Elite. Using a percentile scale makes performance comparable across distances while accounting for gender and age. Beginner means faster than 5% of swimmers, Novice 20%, Intermediate 50%, Advanced 80%, and Elite 95%.
Learn more about using Swimming Level in our FAQ, or read more about Strength Level.
Strength Level defined Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Elite at the 5th, 20th, 50th, 80th and 95th percentiles. Swimming Level later applied that exact scale to swim times, allowing performance to be interpreted consistently across strength and four cardio sports. See the Strength Level standards timeline.
On , the first Swimming Level model fitted log-normal performance distributions and connected distances through a fatigue curve. The calculator and standards pages were adapted for swimming on the same day, including 100m and 100 yard pace output.
Strength Level introduced Swimming Level across the public fitness network on . That completed one Beginner-to-Elite percentile system across strength, running, indoor rowing, cycling and swimming. Compare the current calculator with the earliest useful public archive.
Swimming Level added yard input and dedicated yard-distance standards in October, with both 100m and 100 yard pace views. This made the same comparison system practical for swimmers using metric and US pool conventions.
On , we released our first swimming standards based on times submitted by Swimming Level users. We built individual models for distances from 25m to 5k, bringing together short swims and endurance performances. Our first 25m standards built directly from users' 25m times gave swimmers a benchmark for a single length of a 25m pool.
We explored several ways to group and connect swimming performances before developing models around the results at each distance. We then brought these models together to reflect how swimming speed changes over longer efforts. This preserved the character of individual events while creating a connected set of standards for male and female swimmers.
We also adapted the model for the fast top end, improving how it represented the fastest swimmers in most of the event comparisons we reviewed. The result was a new generation of community standards with targets for every level - from a first timed length to an Elite distance swim.
On , a 69-year-old swimmer's report led us to fix age adjustments that lowered his rating when he swam farther at the same pace. Going from 1,800 to 5,400 yards had dropped his rating from 66% to 50%. His longer swim now scores 67%, while the shorter swim stays at 66%. The update changed speeds by more than 5% for about 22% of standards.
Michael Clark is Swimming Level's founder and lead developer. He launched Strength Level in 2007. He holds a master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge and previously worked as a Technical Lead at Redgate Software. Read more about Michael Clark's work, or get in touch to report a problem or suggest an improvement through our feedback form, email support@strengthlevel.com, or Facebook page.
Strength Level Limited (company number 14076102) was incorporated in England and Wales on 28 April 2022. It operates Swimming Level and the wider Strength Level family of fitness standards websites.
Swimming Level continues to improve through feedback from swimmers, coaches and researchers.