2000m Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 2000m swim time?

A good 2000m time is 36:18 for men and 40:41 for women. This is the average 2000m time across all ages. Compare your 2000m time by age and ability below.

How long does it take to swim 2000m?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 2000m is 36:18 for men and 40:41 for women.

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner57:3001:04:05
Novice45:5251:21
Intermediate36:1840:41
Advanced28:5032:12
Elite23:1125:44

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:52.503:12.2
Novice02:17.602:34.1
Intermediate01:48.902:02.1
Advanced01:26.501:36.6
Elite01:09.601:17.2

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:37.702:55.8
Novice02:05.802:20.9
Intermediate01:39.601:51.6
Advanced01:19.101:28.3
Elite01:03.601:10.6

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

Beginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite 5% 20% 50% 80% 95% 57:30 45:52 36:18 28:50 23:11 Finish Time - 2000m

Male 2000m Swimming Times

A good 2000m time is 36:18 for men. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 2000m swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1001:15:1701:00:0347:3237:4530:21
1501:00:0047:5237:5330:0524:12
2057:4546:0436:2828:5723:17
2559:0947:1137:2129:3923:51
3001:00:3748:2138:1630:2324:27
3501:02:0949:3539:1531:1025:04
4001:03:2650:3640:0431:4825:35
4501:05:0751:5641:0732:3926:15
5001:06:5353:2142:1433:3226:58
5501:08:0054:1542:5734:0627:26
6001:10:0155:5144:1335:0628:14
6501:13:3658:4246:2836:5429:41
7001:17:0301:01:2848:3938:3831:04
7501:21:4701:05:1451:3841:0032:59
8001:28:5001:10:5256:0644:3235:50
8501:39:4301:19:3301:02:5850:0040:13
9002:05:2001:39:5901:19:0901:02:5050:33

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:45.803:00.202:22.601:53.201:31.1
1503:00.002:23.601:53.701:30.201:12.6
2002:53.202:18.201:49.401:26.901:09.9
2502:57.402:21.501:52.001:29.001:11.6
3003:01.802:25.101:54.801:31.201:13.3
3503:06.402:28.701:57.701:33.501:15.2
4003:10.302:31.802:00.201:35.401:16.7
4503:15.302:35.802:03.301:37.901:18.8
5003:20.702:40.102:06.701:40.601:20.9
5503:24.002:42.802:08.801:42.301:22.3
6003:30.102:47.602:12.601:45.301:24.7
6503:40.802:56.102:19.401:50.701:29.0
7003:51.203:04.402:26.001:55.901:33.2
7504:05.303:15.702:34.902:03.001:38.9
8004:26.503:32.602:48.302:13.601:47.5
8504:59.103:58.603:08.902:30.002:00.6
9006:16.004:59.903:57.403:08.502:31.6

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:26.502:44.702:10.401:43.501:23.3
1502:44.602:11.301:43.901:22.501:06.4
2002:38.402:06.401:40.001:19.401:03.9
2502:42.202:09.401:42.501:21.301:05.4
3002:46.302:12.601:45.001:23.401:07.1
3502:50.502:16.001:47.701:25.501:08.8
4002:54.002:18.801:49.901:27.201:10.2
4502:58.602:22.501:52.801:29.501:12.0
5003:03.502:26.401:55.901:32.001:14.0
5503:06.602:28.801:57.801:33.501:15.2
6003:12.102:33.202:01.301:36.301:17.5
6503:21.902:41.002:07.501:41.201:21.4
7003:31.402:48.602:13.501:46.001:25.2
7503:44.302:59.002:21.701:52.501:30.5
8004:03.703:14.402:33.902:02.201:38.3
8504:33.503:38.202:52.702:17.101:50.3
9005:43.804:34.303:37.102:52.402:18.6

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

Female 2000m Swimming Times

A good 2000m time is 40:41 for women. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 2000m swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1001:16:0201:00:5648:1738:1330:32
1501:06:1753:0742:0533:1926:37
2001:04:4351:5241:0632:3226:00
2501:06:1253:0342:0233:1626:35
3001:07:4354:1643:0034:0227:12
3501:09:2055:3344:0134:5127:51
4001:10:4056:3844:5235:3128:23
4501:11:5357:3645:3936:0828:52
5001:14:1259:2847:0737:1829:48
5501:16:5401:01:3748:5038:3930:53
6001:19:0701:03:2450:1439:4631:47
6501:22:4101:06:1552:3041:3333:12
7001:27:3401:10:1055:3644:0135:10
7501:35:2501:16:2801:00:3547:5738:19
8001:47:1301:25:5501:08:0553:5343:04
8501:58:3401:35:0101:15:1759:3547:37
9002:14:4501:47:5901:25:3301:07:4354:07

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:48.103:02.802:24.801:54.601:31.6
1503:18.802:39.302:06.301:39.901:19.9
2003:14.202:35.602:03.301:37.601:18.0
2503:18.602:39.102:06.101:39.801:19.8
3003:23.202:42.802:09.001:42.101:21.6
3503:28.002:46.702:12.101:44.501:23.5
4003:32.002:49.902:14.601:46.601:25.2
4503:35.702:52.802:16.901:48.401:26.6
5003:42.602:58.402:21.401:51.901:29.4
5503:50.703:04.902:26.501:55.901:32.7
6003:57.303:10.202:30.701:59.301:35.3
6504:08.003:18.802:37.502:04.701:39.6
7004:22.703:30.502:46.802:12.001:45.5
7504:46.303:49.403:01.802:23.901:55.0
8005:21.704:17.803:24.202:41.702:09.2
8505:55.704:45.003:45.802:58.802:22.9
9006:44.205:23.904:16.703:23.202:42.4

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:28.602:47.202:12.401:44.801:23.8
1503:01.802:25.701:55.401:31.401:13.0
2002:57.502:22.301:52.701:29.201:11.3
2503:01.602:25.501:55.301:31.301:12.9
3003:05.802:28.901:58.001:33.401:14.6
3503:10.202:32.402:00.801:35.601:16.4
4003:13.902:35.402:03.101:37.401:17.9
4503:17.202:38.002:05.201:39.101:19.2
5003:23.602:43.102:09.301:42.301:21.8
5503:30.902:49.002:13.901:46.001:24.7
6003:37.002:53.902:17.801:49.101:27.2
6503:46.803:01.802:24.001:54.001:31.1
7004:00.203:12.502:32.502:00.701:36.5
7504:21.803:29.802:46.202:11.601:45.1
8004:54.103:55.703:06.802:27.801:58.1
8505:25.204:20.603:26.502:43.502:10.6
9006:09.604:56.203:54.703:05.802:28.5

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 2000m swim time standards

Swimming Level analysed 2,470 qualifying results from 22,276 community results submitted by 13,306 Swimming Level users from 2021 to 2026 to produce our 2000m swim time standards. We will continue to update them as more community data becomes available. See our standards timeline.

Community results 22,276
Community users 13,306
Qualifying results 2,470
Male results 1,743
Female results 727
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 2000m was 40:32 across all ages and genders, 39:12 for men (now 8.0% faster) and 42:20 for women (now 4.0% faster).

LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner01:02:2357:30-7.8%
Novice49:4345:52-7.8%
Intermediate39:1236:18-7.4%
Advanced30:5528:50-6.8%
Elite24:3823:11-5.9%
LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner01:04:0201:04:05+0.1%
Novice52:1951:21-1.8%
Intermediate42:2040:41-3.9%
Advanced34:1532:12-6.0%
Elite27:5925:44-8.0%

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

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