1000 yd Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 1000 yd swim time?

A good 1000 yd time is 15:45 for men and 16:49 for women. This is the average 1000 yd time across all ages. Compare your 1000 yd time by age and ability below.

Our 1000 yd swim time standards are based on 4,876 swimming results by Swimming Level users from 2022 to 2026. More...

How long does it take to swim 1000 yd?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 1000 yd is 15:45 for men and 16:49 for women.

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner26:1329:15
Novice20:1221:47
Intermediate15:4516:49
Advanced12:3213:25
Elite10:1411:04

Time: Finish time for the full distance (seconds below a minute, otherwise mm:ss or hh:mm:ss).

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:52.103:11.9
Novice02:12.502:23.0
Intermediate01:43.301:50.3
Advanced01:22.201:28.1
Elite01:07.201:12.6

100m: Average pace per 100 metres, shown in minutes and seconds (mm:ss.s).

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:37.302:55.5
Novice02:01.202:10.7
Intermediate01:34.501:40.9
Advanced01:15.201:20.5
Elite01:01.401:06.4

100yd: Average pace per 100 yards, shown in minutes and seconds (mm:ss.s).

BeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite5%20%50%80%95%26:1320:1215:4512:3210:14Finish Time - 1000 yd

Male 1000 yd Swimming Times

A good 1000 yd time is 15:45 for men. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 1000 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1033:5826:0920:2416:1413:15-
1527:0620:5216:1712:5710:3508:32.83
2026:1520:1315:4612:3310:15-
2526:4120:3316:0112:4510:25-
3027:2221:0416:2613:0410:41-
3528:0521:3716:5213:2510:58-
4028:5022:1217:1913:4711:15-
4529:3822:4917:4814:1011:34-
5030:2923:2818:1814:3411:54-
5531:2224:0918:5014:5912:15-
6032:2024:5419:2515:2712:37-
6533:3725:5320:1116:0413:07-
7035:2227:1421:1416:5413:48-
7537:4529:0422:4018:0214:44-
8040:5931:3424:3719:3516:00-
8545:2835:0127:1821:4417:45-
9051:5239:5731:0924:4720:15-

Time: Finish time for the full distance (seconds below a minute, otherwise mm:ss or hh:mm:ss).

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1003:42.902:51.602:13.801:46.501:27.0-
1502:57.902:17.001:46.801:25.001:09.400:56.1
2002:52.202:12.601:43.401:22.301:07.2-
2502:55.002:14.801:45.101:23.701:08.3-
3002:59.502:18.301:47.801:25.801:10.1-
3503:04.202:21.901:50.601:28.001:11.9-
4003:09.202:25.701:53.601:30.401:13.9-
4503:14.402:29.701:56.801:32.901:15.9-
5003:20.002:34.002:00.101:35.601:18.1-
5503:25.802:38.502:03.601:38.401:20.3-
6003:32.202:43.402:07.401:41.401:22.8-
6503:40.502:49.802:12.401:45.401:26.1-
7003:52.102:58.702:19.301:50.901:30.6-
7504:07.703:10.702:28.701:58.401:36.7-
8004:29.003:27.102:41.502:08.501:45.0-
8504:58.403:49.802:59.202:22.601:56.5-
9005:40.304:22.103:24.402:42.602:12.8-

100m: Average pace per 100 metres, shown in minutes and seconds (mm:ss.s).

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1003:23.802:36.902:02.401:37.401:19.5-
1502:42.602:05.201:37.701:17.701:03.500:51.3
2002:37.502:01.301:34.601:15.301:01.5-
2502:40.102:03.301:36.101:16.501:02.5-
3002:44.202:06.401:38.601:18.401:04.1-
3502:48.502:09.701:41.201:20.501:05.8-
4002:53.002:13.201:43.901:22.701:07.5-
4502:57.802:16.901:46.801:25.001:09.4-
5003:02.902:20.801:49.801:27.401:11.4-
5503:08.202:24.901:53.001:29.901:13.5-
6003:14.002:29.401:56.501:32.701:15.7-
6503:21.702:35.302:01.101:36.401:18.7-
7003:32.202:43.402:07.401:41.401:22.8-
7503:46.502:54.402:16.001:48.201:28.4-
8004:05.903:09.402:27.701:57.501:36.0-
8504:32.803:30.102:43.802:10.401:46.5-
9005:11.203:59.703:06.902:28.702:01.5-

100yd: Average pace per 100 yards, shown in minutes and seconds (mm:ss.s).

Female 1000 yd Swimming Times

A good 1000 yd time is 16:49 for women. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 1000 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1033:3825:0319:2015:2612:44-
1530:1422:3117:2313:5211:2609:14.22
2029:1521:4716:4913:2511:04-
2529:2221:5316:5313:2911:07-
3029:4922:1217:0813:4111:17-
3530:4422:5417:4014:0611:38-
4031:4423:3818:1414:3412:01-
4532:4724:2518:5115:0312:24-
5033:5525:1619:3015:3412:50-
5535:0726:0920:1116:0713:17-
6036:2527:0820:5616:4313:47-
6537:5628:1621:4917:2514:22-
7040:0329:5023:0118:2315:10-
7542:5832:0024:4219:4316:16-
8047:0035:0027:0121:3417:47-
8552:4239:1630:1824:1119:57-
9001:01:0645:3135:0728:0223:08-

Time: Finish time for the full distance (seconds below a minute, otherwise mm:ss or hh:mm:ss).

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1003:40.702:44.402:06.801:41.301:23.5-
1503:18.302:27.701:54.001:31.001:15.101:00.6
2003:11.902:23.001:50.301:28.101:12.6-
2503:12.702:23.601:50.801:28.401:13.0-
3003:15.602:25.701:52.401:29.801:14.0-
3503:21.702:30.201:55.901:32.601:16.3-
4003:28.202:35.101:59.701:35.501:18.8-
4503:35.102:40.202:03.601:38.701:21.4-
5003:42.502:45.702:07.901:42.101:24.2-
5503:50.402:51.602:12.501:45.701:27.2-
6003:59.002:58.002:17.401:49.701:30.4-
6504:08.903:05.402:23.101:54.201:34.2-
7004:22.803:15.802:31.102:00.601:39.5-
7504:41.903:30.002:42.102:09.401:46.7-
8005:08.403:49.702:57.302:21.501:56.7-
8505:45.804:17.603:18.802:38.702:10.9-
9006:40.904:58.703:50.503:04.002:31.8-

100m: Average pace per 100 metres, shown in minutes and seconds (mm:ss.s).

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1003:21.802:30.301:56.001:32.601:16.4-
1503:01.402:15.101:44.301:23.201:08.600:55.4
2002:55.502:10.701:40.901:20.501:06.4-
2502:56.202:11.301:41.301:20.901:06.7-
3002:58.902:13.201:42.801:22.101:07.7-
3503:04.402:17.401:46.001:24.601:09.8-
4003:10.402:21.801:49.401:27.401:12.1-
4503:16.702:26.501:53.101:30.301:14.4-
5003:23.502:31.601:57.001:33.401:17.0-
5503:30.702:36.902:01.101:36.701:19.7-
6003:38.502:42.802:05.601:40.301:22.7-
6503:47.602:49.602:10.901:44.501:26.2-
7004:00.302:59.002:18.101:50.301:31.0-
7504:17.803:12.002:28.201:58.301:37.6-
8004:42.003:30.002:42.102:09.401:46.7-
8505:16.203:55.603:01.802:25.101:59.7-
9006:06.604:33.103:30.702:48.202:18.8-

100yd: Average pace per 100 yards, shown in minutes and seconds (mm:ss.s).

What do the swimming standards mean?

Beginner Faster than 5% of swimmers.
Novice Faster than 20% of swimmers.
Intermediate Faster than 50% of swimmers.
Advanced Faster than 80% of swimmers.
Elite Faster than 95% of swimmers.

Strength Level introduced these exact Beginner-to-Elite percentile boundaries in 2015. See how the standards evolved.

Data behind the 1000 yd swim time standards

Our 1000 yd swim time standards are based on results submitted by Swimming Level users. We will continue to update them as more community data becomes available. See our standards timeline.

Community results 4,876
Community users 2,746
Data start
Data cutoff
Model generated

Qualifying results are retained after checks for implausible data, duplicates, and unusual or automated submission patterns. Learn more about qualifying results.

Previous standards ()

The old average finish time for 1000 yd was 18:05 across all ages and genders, 17:31 for men (now 11.2% faster) and 18:52 for women (now 12.2% faster).

LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner27:5226:13-5.9%
Novice22:1220:12-9.1%
Intermediate17:3115:45-10.1%
Advanced13:4812:32-9.2%
Elite11:0010:14-7.0%
LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner28:3229:15+2.5%
Novice23:1921:47-6.6%
Intermediate18:5216:49-10.9%
Advanced15:1613:25-12.1%
Elite12:2811:04-11.2%

We created these previous standards on and last updated them (see archive.org).

1000 yd World Records

Male 1000 yd World Records (25yd Pool)

RecordAge CategoryNameTimeDateAgeSource
NR15-16Luka Mijatovic08:32.832026-USAS

Female 1000 yd World Records (25yd Pool)

RecordAge CategoryNameTimeDateAgeSource
NR15-16Katie Ledecky09:14.222013-USAS

References for WRs:

USAS
USA Swimming (via Pacific Swimming). "National age-group records." Accessed 7 Oct 2026. https://www.pacswim.org/swim-meet-times/records.

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