1500m Swim Times By Age And Ability

What is a good 1500m swim time?

A good 1500m time is 27:13 for men and 30:29 for women. This is the average 1500m time across all ages. Compare your 1500m time by age and ability below.

Our 1500m swim time standards are based on 28,334 swimming results by Swimming Level users from 2021 to 2026. More...

How long does it take to swim 1500m?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 1500m is 27:13 for men and 30:29 for women.

Time
100m
100yd

Swimming Level	Male	Female
Beginner	43:01	47:59
Novice	34:24	38:31
Intermediate	27:13	30:29
Advanced	21:33	24:03
Elite	17:15	19:06
WR	14:26.79	15:20.48

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

Swimming Level	Male	Female
Beginner	02:52.1	03:11.9
Novice	02:17.6	02:34.1
Intermediate	01:48.9	02:01.9
Advanced	01:26.2	01:36.2
Elite	01:09.0	01:16.4
WR	00:57.8	01:01.4

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

Swimming Level	Male	Female
Beginner	02:37.3	02:55.5
Novice	02:05.8	02:20.9
Intermediate	01:39.5	01:51.5
Advanced	01:18.8	01:28.0
Elite	01:03.1	01:09.9
WR	00:52.8	00:56.1

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

Male
Female

Male 1500m Swimming Times

A good 1500m time is 27:13 for men. This is the average time across all ages. The fastest 1500m time is 14:26.79 for men.

Average 1500m swim time by age and ability

Time
100m
100yd

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	WR
10	56:18	45:01	35:37	28:12	22:35	-
15	44:52	35:53	28:24	22:29	18:00	14:26.79
20	43:11	34:32	27:20	21:38	17:19	-
25	44:14	35:22	27:59	22:10	17:44	15:49.04
30	45:20	36:15	28:41	22:42	18:11	15:25.79
35	46:29	37:10	29:25	23:17	18:38	16:00.04
40	47:27	37:56	30:01	23:46	19:01	16:24.76
45	48:39	38:54	30:47	24:22	19:30	16:38.81
50	50:01	40:00	31:39	25:03	20:03	17:08.33
55	50:52	40:40	32:11	25:29	20:24	17:22.61
60	52:22	41:52	33:08	26:14	21:00	17:55.91
65	55:02	44:01	34:50	27:34	22:04	18:43.53
70	57:38	46:05	36:28	28:52	23:06	20:17.22
75	01:01:10	48:54	38:42	30:38	24:31	21:02.80
80	01:06:27	53:07	42:02	33:17	26:38	22:16.90
85	01:14:10	59:18	46:56	37:09	29:44	26:18.37
90	01:25:30	01:08:22	54:06	42:50	34:17	30:31.69

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

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	WR
10	03:45.2	03:00.1	02:22.5	01:52.8	01:30.3	-
15	02:59.5	02:23.5	01:53.6	01:29.9	01:12.0	00:57.8
20	02:52.8	02:18.1	01:49.3	01:26.5	01:09.3	-
25	02:56.9	02:21.5	01:52.0	01:28.6	01:10.9	01:03.3
30	03:01.3	02:25.0	01:54.7	01:30.8	01:12.7	01:01.7
35	03:05.9	02:28.7	01:57.6	01:33.1	01:14.6	01:04.0
40	03:09.8	02:31.7	02:00.1	01:35.1	01:16.1	01:05.7
45	03:14.6	02:35.6	02:03.1	01:37.5	01:18.0	01:06.6
50	03:20.1	02:40.0	02:06.6	01:40.2	01:20.2	01:08.6
55	03:23.5	02:42.7	02:08.7	01:41.9	01:21.6	01:09.5
60	03:29.5	02:47.5	02:12.5	01:44.9	01:24.0	01:11.7
65	03:40.2	02:56.0	02:19.3	01:50.3	01:28.3	01:14.9
70	03:50.5	03:04.3	02:25.9	01:55.5	01:32.4	01:21.1
75	04:04.6	03:15.6	02:34.8	02:02.5	01:38.1	01:24.2
80	04:25.8	03:32.5	02:48.2	02:13.1	01:46.6	01:29.1
85	04:56.7	03:57.2	03:07.7	02:28.6	01:58.9	01:45.2
90	05:42.0	04:33.4	03:36.4	02:51.3	02:17.1	02:02.1

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

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	WR
10	03:25.9	02:44.7	02:10.3	01:43.2	01:22.6	-
15	02:44.1	02:11.2	01:43.8	01:22.2	01:05.8	00:52.8
20	02:38.0	02:06.3	01:40.0	01:19.1	01:03.3	-
25	02:41.8	02:09.4	01:42.4	01:21.0	01:04.9	00:57.9
30	02:45.8	02:12.6	01:44.9	01:23.1	01:06.5	00:56.4
35	02:50.0	02:15.9	01:47.6	01:25.2	01:08.2	00:58.5
40	02:53.5	02:18.8	01:49.8	01:26.9	01:09.6	01:00.0
45	02:57.9	02:22.3	01:52.6	01:29.1	01:11.3	01:00.9
50	03:03.0	02:26.3	01:55.8	01:31.7	01:13.4	01:02.7
55	03:06.0	02:28.7	01:57.7	01:33.2	01:14.6	01:03.6
60	03:11.5	02:33.1	02:01.2	01:35.9	01:16.8	01:05.6
65	03:21.3	02:41.0	02:07.4	01:40.8	01:20.7	01:08.5
70	03:30.8	02:48.5	02:13.4	01:45.6	01:24.5	01:14.2
75	03:43.7	02:58.9	02:21.5	01:52.1	01:29.7	01:17.0
80	04:03.0	03:14.3	02:33.8	02:01.7	01:37.4	01:21.5
85	04:31.3	03:36.9	02:51.6	02:15.9	01:48.8	01:36.2
90	05:12.7	04:10.0	03:17.9	02:36.6	02:05.4	01:51.7

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

Female 1500m Swimming Times

A good 1500m time is 30:29 for women. This is the average time across all ages. The fastest 1500m time is 15:20.48 for women.

Average 1500m swim time by age and ability

Time
100m
100yd

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	56:55	45:41	36:10	28:31	22:40	-
15	49:37	39:49	31:31	24:52	19:45	15:36.53
20	48:27	38:53	30:47	24:17	19:18	15:20.48
25	49:33	39:46	31:29	24:50	19:44	16:34.89
30	50:42	40:41	32:13	25:24	20:11	17:20.55
35	51:54	41:39	32:58	26:00	20:40	17:17.22
40	52:54	42:28	33:37	26:31	21:04	17:29.43
45	53:49	43:11	34:11	26:58	21:26	17:27.11
50	55:33	44:35	35:18	27:50	22:07	18:15.80
55	57:34	46:12	36:34	28:51	22:55	18:36.30
60	59:13	47:32	37:38	29:41	23:35	19:10.59
65	01:01:53	49:41	39:19	31:01	24:39	20:41.53
70	01:05:33	52:37	41:39	32:51	26:06	21:02.79
75	01:10:51	56:52	45:01	35:30	28:13	23:27.09
80	01:18:17	01:02:50	49:44	39:14	31:10	28:35.86
85	01:28:09	01:10:45	56:01	44:11	35:06	28:11.18
90	01:40:24	01:20:35	01:03:48	50:19	39:59	33:36.10

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

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	03:47.7	03:02.7	02:24.7	01:54.1	01:30.7	-
15	03:18.5	02:39.3	02:06.1	01:39.5	01:19.0	01:02.4
20	03:13.8	02:35.5	02:03.1	01:37.1	01:17.2	01:01.4
25	03:18.2	02:39.1	02:05.9	01:39.3	01:18.9	01:06.3
30	03:22.8	02:42.8	02:08.8	01:41.6	01:20.7	01:09.4
35	03:27.6	02:46.6	02:11.9	01:44.0	01:22.7	01:09.1
40	03:31.6	02:49.8	02:14.4	01:46.0	01:24.3	01:10.0
45	03:35.2	02:52.8	02:16.8	01:47.9	01:25.7	01:09.8
50	03:42.2	02:58.3	02:21.2	01:51.3	01:28.5	01:13.1
55	03:50.2	03:04.8	02:26.3	01:55.4	01:31.7	01:14.4
60	03:56.9	03:10.1	02:30.5	01:58.7	01:34.3	01:16.7
65	04:07.6	03:18.7	02:37.3	02:04.1	01:38.6	01:22.8
70	04:22.2	03:30.5	02:46.6	02:11.4	01:44.4	01:24.2
75	04:43.4	03:47.5	03:00.1	02:22.0	01:52.9	01:33.8
80	05:13.1	04:11.4	03:19.0	02:36.9	02:04.7	01:54.4
85	05:52.6	04:43.0	03:44.0	02:56.7	02:20.4	01:52.7
90	06:41.6	05:22.4	04:15.2	03:21.3	02:39.9	02:14.4

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

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	03:28.2	02:47.1	02:12.3	01:44.3	01:22.9	-
15	03:01.5	02:25.7	01:55.3	01:30.9	01:12.3	00:57.1
20	02:57.2	02:22.2	01:52.6	01:28.8	01:10.6	00:56.1
25	03:01.2	02:25.5	01:55.1	01:30.8	01:12.2	01:00.6
30	03:05.4	02:28.8	01:57.8	01:32.9	01:13.8	01:03.4
35	03:09.8	02:32.4	02:00.6	01:35.1	01:15.6	01:03.2
40	03:13.5	02:35.3	02:02.9	01:37.0	01:17.1	01:04.0
45	03:16.8	02:38.0	02:05.0	01:38.6	01:18.4	01:03.8
50	03:23.2	02:43.1	02:09.1	01:41.8	01:20.9	01:06.8
55	03:30.5	02:49.0	02:13.8	01:45.5	01:23.8	01:08.0
60	03:36.6	02:53.9	02:17.6	01:48.6	01:26.3	01:10.1
65	03:46.4	03:01.7	02:23.8	01:53.4	01:30.1	01:15.7
70	03:59.8	03:12.4	02:32.3	02:00.2	01:35.5	01:17.0
75	04:19.2	03:28.0	02:44.7	02:09.9	01:43.2	01:25.8
80	04:46.3	03:49.8	03:01.9	02:23.5	01:54.0	01:44.6
85	05:22.4	04:18.8	03:24.9	02:41.6	02:08.4	01:43.1
90	06:07.2	04:54.8	03:53.3	03:04.0	02:26.2	02:02.9

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 1500m swim time standards

Swimming Level analysed 3,881 qualifying results from 28,334 community results submitted by 15,296 Swimming Level users from 2021 to 2026 to produce our 1500m swim time standards. We will continue to update them as more community data becomes available. See our standards timeline.

Community results	28,334
Community users	15,296
Qualifying results	3,881
Male results	2,764
Female results	1,117
Data start	31 December 2021
Data cutoff	14 October 2026
Model generated	24 October 2026

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

Previous standards (28 Sep 2023)

The old average finish time for 1500m was 30:08 across all ages and genders, 29:09 for men (now 7.1% faster) and 31:27 for women (now 3.2% faster).

Male
Female

Level	Previous	Current	Change %
Beginner	46:23	43:01	-7.3%
Novice	36:58	34:24	-7.0%
Intermediate	29:09	27:13	-6.6%
Advanced	22:59	21:33	-6.3%
Elite	18:19	17:15	-5.9%

Level	Previous	Current	Change %
Beginner	47:35	47:59	+0.8%
Novice	38:52	38:31	-0.9%
Intermediate	31:27	30:29	-3.1%
Advanced	25:27	24:03	-5.5%
Elite	20:47	19:06	-8.1%

We created these previous standards on 30 December 2021 and last updated them 28 September 2023 (see archive.org).

1500m World Records

Male 1500m World Records (50m Pool)

Record	Age Category	Name	Time	Date	Age	Source
WR	15-19	Johannes Wilhel Liebmann	14:26.79	15 Aug 2026	19	WA1
WR	25-29	David Heron	15:49.04	12 Aug 2022	-	WA2
WR	30-34	Jan Wolfgarten	15:25.79	11 Mar 2012	-	WA2
WR	35-39	Petar Stoychev	16:00.04	11 Mar 2012	-	WA2
WR	40-44	Nicola Nisato	16:24.76	7 Apr 2018	-	WA2
WR	45-49	Jeff Erwin	16:38.81	10 Aug 2009	-	WA2
WR	50-54	Jim McConica	17:08.33	20 Aug 2000	-	WA2
WR	55-59	Michael Mann	17:22.61	10 Aug 2009	-	WA2
WR	60-64	Arnaldo Perez	17:55.91	3 Aug 2022	-	WA2
WR	65-69	Paul Blackbeard	18:43.53	15 Oct 2023	-	WA2
WR	70-74	Richard Baughman	20:17.22	6 Aug 2025	-	WA2
WR	75-79	Dan Kirkland	21:02.80	11 Aug 2023	-	WA2
WR	80-84	David Radcliff	22:16.90	31 May 2014	-	WA2
WR	85-89	David Radcliff	26:18.37	19 Jul 2019	-	WA2
WR	90-94	Katsura Suzuki	30:31.69	24 Oct 2021	-	WA2

Female 1500m World Records (50m Pool)

Record	Age Category	Name	Time	Date	Age	Source
NR	15-16	Katie Ledecky	15:36.53	2013	-	USAS
WR	20-24	Katie Ledecky	15:20.48	16 May 2018	21	WA1
WR	25-29	Swann Oberson	16:34.89	11 Mar 2012	-	WA2
WR	30-34	Sophie Casson	17:20.55	16 Jun 2017	-	WA2
WR	35-39	Heidi George	17:17.22	6 Aug 2015	-	WA2
WR	40-44	Heidi George	17:29.43	30 Jun 2017	-	WA2
WR	45-49	Heidi George	17:27.11	13 Apr 2023	-	WA2
WR	50-54	Alison Zamanian	18:15.80	29 Jul 2022	-	WA2
WR	55-59	Ellen Reynolds	18:36.30	7 Aug 2019	-	WA2
WR	60-64	Ellen Reynolds	19:10.59	6 Jul 2024	-	WA2
WR	65-69	Suzanne Heim-Bowen	20:41.53	21 Jul 2023	-	WA2
WR	70-74	Christie Ciraulo	21:02.79	2 Aug 2023	-	WA2
WR	75-79	Shirley Loftus-Charley	23:27.09	26 Jul 2026	-	WA2
WR	80-84	Beverly Montrella	28:35.86	17 May 2026	-	WA2
WR	85-89	Jane Asher	28:11.18	5 Mar 2016	-	WA2
WR	90-94	Dorothy Dickey	33:36.10	21 Feb 2020	-	WA2

References for WRs:

WA1: World Aquatics. "Swimming world records." Accessed 30 Sep 2026. https://www.worldaquatics.com/swimming/records.
WA2: World Aquatics. "Masters world records." Accessed 30 Sep 2026. https://www.worldaquatics.com/masters/records.
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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1500m Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 1500m swim time?

How long does it take to swim 1500m?

Male 1500m Swimming Times

Average 1500m swim time by age and ability

Female 1500m Swimming Times

Average 1500m swim time by age and ability

What do the swimming standards mean?

Data behind the 1500m swim time standards

Previous standards (28 Sep 2023)

1500m World Records

Male 1500m World Records (50m Pool)

Female 1500m World Records (50m Pool)

References for WRs:

More Distances

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