200 yd Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 200 yd swim time?

A good 200 yd time is 02:38 for men and 02:53 for women. This is the average 200 yd time across all ages. Compare your 200 yd time by age and ability below.

How long does it take to swim 200 yd?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 200 yd is 02:38 for men and 02:53 for women.

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner04:1304:38
Novice03:2003:36
Intermediate02:3802:53
Advanced02:0702:23
Elite01:4402:01

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:18.302:31.8
Novice01:49.201:58.1
Intermediate01:26.501:34.5
Advanced01:09.501:18.0
Elite00:57.001:06.3

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:06.502:18.8
Novice01:39.801:48.0
Intermediate01:19.101:26.4
Advanced01:03.501:11.3
Elite00:52.101:00.6

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

BeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite5%20%50%80%95%04:1303:2002:3802:0701:44Finish Time - 200 yd

Male 200 yd Swimming Times

A good 200 yd time is 02:38 for men. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 200 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1005:2504:1703:2402:4302:1401:55.72
1504:2603:3002:4602:1301:4901:32.46
2004:1303:2002:3802:0701:44-
2504:1703:2302:4102:0901:46-
3004:2303:2802:4502:1201:48-
3504:3003:3302:4902:1601:51-
4004:3703:3802:5302:1901:54-
4504:4403:4402:5802:2301:57-
5004:5203:5003:0302:2702:00-
5505:0003:5703:0802:3102:04-
6005:0904:0403:1302:3502:07-
6505:2004:1203:2002:4102:12-
7005:3604:2503:3002:4902:18-
7505:5804:4203:4403:0002:27-
8006:2805:0604:0303:1502:40-
8507:1105:4004:2903:3602:58-
9008:1306:2905:0804:0703:23-

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1002:58.002:20.501:51.301:29.401:13.301:03.3
1502:25.301:54.701:30.901:13.000:59.900:50.6
2002:18.401:49.201:26.601:09.500:57.0-
2502:20.501:50.901:27.801:10.600:57.9-
3002:23.901:53.601:30.001:12.300:59.3-
3502:27.501:56.501:32.301:14.101:00.8-
4002:31.401:59.501:34.701:16.001:02.4-
4502:35.402:02.601:37.201:18.001:04.0-
5002:39.602:06.001:39.801:20.201:05.8-
5502:44.102:09.501:42.601:22.401:07.6-
6002:48.802:13.201:45.601:24.801:09.5-
6502:54.902:18.001:49.401:27.801:12.0-
7003:03.502:24.901:54.801:32.201:15.6-
7503:15.602:34.402:02.301:38.201:20.6-
8003:32.302:47.502:12.701:46.601:27.5-
8503:55.603:05.902:27.301:58.301:37.1-
9004:29.403:32.602:48.502:15.301:51.0-

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1002:42.702:08.401:41.801:21.701:07.000:57.9
1502:12.901:44.901:23.101:06.700:54.700:46.2
2002:06.601:39.901:19.101:03.600:52.1-
2502:08.401:41.401:20.301:04.500:52.9-
3002:11.601:43.901:22.301:06.100:54.2-
3502:14.901:46.501:24.401:07.800:55.6-
4002:18.401:49.201:26.601:09.500:57.0-
4502:22.101:52.101:28.801:11.400:58.5-
5002:25.901:55.201:31.301:13.301:00.1-
5502:30.001:58.401:33.801:15.401:01.8-
6002:34.302:01.801:36.501:17.501:03.6-
6502:39.902:06.201:40.001:20.301:05.9-
7002:47.802:12.501:44.901:24.301:09.1-
7502:58.802:21.201:51.901:29.801:13.7-
8003:14.102:33.202:01.401:37.501:20.0-
8503:35.402:50.002:14.701:48.201:28.8-
9004:06.303:14.402:34.002:03.701:41.5-

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

Female 200 yd Swimming Times

A good 200 yd time is 02:53 for women. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 200 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1005:2604:1403:2302:4802:2301:58.20
1504:4303:4002:5602:2502:0401:42.03
2004:3803:3602:5302:2302:01-
2504:4003:3802:5402:2402:02-
3004:4703:4302:5802:2702:05-
3504:5403:4903:0302:3102:08-
4005:0203:5503:0802:3502:12-
4505:1004:0103:1302:3902:15-
5005:1804:0803:1802:4402:19-
5505:2804:1503:2402:4802:23-
6005:3704:2203:3002:5302:27-
6505:5004:3303:3803:0002:33-
7006:0804:4703:4903:0902:41-
7506:3405:0604:0503:2202:52-
8007:0905:3404:2703:4003:08-
8508:0006:1304:5904:0603:29-
9009:1407:1105:4504:4404:02-

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1002:58.402:18.801:51.101:31.601:17.901:04.6
1502:34.802:00.401:36.401:19.501:07.600:55.8
2002:31.801:58.101:34.501:18.001:06.3-
2502:33.001:59.001:35.301:18.601:06.8-
3002:36.702:01.901:37.601:20.501:08.5-
3502:40.702:05.001:40.101:22.601:10.2-
4002:45.002:08.301:42.701:24.701:12.1-
4502:49.402:11.801:45.501:27.001:14.0-
5002:54.102:15.501:48.401:29.401:16.1-
5502:59.102:19.301:51.501:32.001:18.2-
6003:04.502:23.501:54.801:34.801:20.6-
6503:11.602:29.001:59.301:38.401:23.7-
7003:21.402:36.702:05.401:43.501:28.0-
7503:35.302:47.502:14.101:50.601:34.1-
8003:54.703:02.602:26.102:00.601:42.5-
8504:22.203:23.902:43.202:14.701:54.5-
9005:02.803:55.503:08.502:35.502:12.3-

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedEliteNR
1002:43.102:06.901:41.601:23.801:11.300:59.1
1502:21.601:50.101:28.201:12.701:01.900:51.0
2002:18.801:48.001:26.401:11.301:00.6-
2502:19.901:48.801:27.101:11.901:01.1-
3002:23.301:51.501:29.201:13.601:02.6-
3502:27.001:54.301:31.501:15.501:04.2-
4002:30.901:57.301:33.901:17.501:05.9-
4502:34.902:00.501:36.501:19.601:07.7-
5002:39.202:03.901:39.101:21.801:09.6-
5502:43.802:07.401:42.001:24.101:11.5-
6002:48.702:11.201:45.001:26.601:13.7-
6502:55.202:16.301:49.101:30.001:16.5-
7003:04.202:23.301:54.701:34.601:20.5-
7503:16.902:33.202:02.601:41.101:26.0-
8003:34.602:46.902:13.601:50.201:33.8-
8503:59.803:06.502:29.302:03.201:44.7-
9004:36.903:35.302:52.402:22.202:00.9-

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 200 yd swim time standards

Our 200 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 6,110
Community users 3,663
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 200 yd was 03:26 across all ages and genders, 03:20 for men (now 26.6% faster) and 03:35 for women (now 24.3% faster).

LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner05:1904:13-20.6%
Novice04:1403:20-21.4%
Intermediate03:2002:38-21.0%
Advanced02:3802:07-19.5%
Elite02:0601:44-17.2%
LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner05:2504:38-14.6%
Novice04:2603:36-18.7%
Intermediate03:3502:53-19.5%
Advanced02:5402:23-18.0%
Elite02:2202:01-14.6%

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

200 yd World Records

Male 200 yd World Records (25yd Pool)

RecordAge CategoryNameTimeDateAgeSource
NR10 & UnderGabriel Brown01:55.722026-USAS
NR15-16Thomas Heilman01:32.462023-USAS

Female 200 yd World Records (25yd Pool)

RecordAge CategoryNameTimeDateAgeSource
NR10 & UnderClaire Tuggle01:58.202015-USAS
NR15-16Katie Ledecky01:42.032013-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.

More Distances

Rate Your Swim

The Swimming Level Calculator can show your exact level of swimming performance at any age.

World Record