200m Swim Times By Age And Ability

What is a good 200m swim time?

A good 200m time is 02:56 for men and 03:10 for women. This is the average 200m time across all ages. Compare your 200m time by age and ability below.

Our 200m swim time standards are based on 18,892 swimming results by Swimming Level users from 2021 to 2026. More...

How long does it take to swim 200m?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 200m is 02:56 for men and 03:10 for women.

Time
100m
100yd

Swimming Level	Male	Female
Beginner	04:40	05:04
Novice	03:42	03:57
Intermediate	02:56	03:10
Advanced	02:21	02:37
Elite	01:56	02:14
WR	01:42.00	01:52.23

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

Swimming Level	Male	Female
Beginner	02:19.9	02:31.8
Novice	01:50.8	01:58.3
Intermediate	01:27.9	01:35.0
Advanced	01:10.5	01:18.7
Elite	00:57.8	01:07.1
WR	00:51.0	00:56.1

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

Swimming Level	Male	Female
Beginner	02:07.9	02:18.8
Novice	01:41.3	01:48.2
Intermediate	01:20.4	01:26.9
Advanced	01:04.5	01:11.9
Elite	00:52.8	01:01.4
WR	00:46.6	00:51.3

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

Male
Female

Male 200m Swimming Times

A good 200m time is 02:56 for men. This is the average time across all ages. The fastest 200m time is 01:42.00 for men.

Average 200m swim time by age and ability

Time
100m
100yd

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	05:59	04:44	03:46	03:01	02:28	02:11.18
15	04:53	03:52	03:04	02:28	02:01	01:45.92
20	04:40	03:42	02:56	02:21	01:56	01:42.00
25	04:44	03:45	02:58	02:23	01:57	01:50.76
30	04:51	03:50	03:03	02:27	02:00	01:49.56
35	04:58	03:56	03:07	02:30	02:03	01:51.84
40	05:06	04:02	03:12	02:34	02:06	01:53.65
45	05:14	04:09	03:18	02:39	02:10	01:55.39
50	05:23	04:16	03:23	02:43	02:13	01:58.62
55	05:32	04:23	03:29	02:48	02:17	02:02.91
60	05:42	04:31	03:35	02:53	02:21	02:07.68
65	05:55	04:41	03:43	02:59	02:27	02:09.39
70	06:13	04:55	03:54	03:08	02:34	02:16.51
75	06:37	05:15	04:10	03:20	02:44	02:25.66
80	07:11	05:42	04:31	03:38	02:58	02:38.32
85	07:59	06:19	05:01	04:01	03:18	03:03.50
90	09:07	07:13	05:44	04:36	03:46	03:33.64

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	02:59.5	02:22.2	01:52.8	01:30.5	01:14.1	01:05.6
15	02:26.5	01:56.0	01:32.0	01:13.9	01:00.5	00:53.0
20	02:19.9	01:50.8	01:27.9	01:10.5	00:57.8	00:51.0
25	02:21.8	01:52.3	01:29.1	01:11.5	00:58.6	00:55.4
30	02:25.4	01:55.1	01:31.3	01:13.3	01:00.1	00:54.8
35	02:29.1	01:58.1	01:33.7	01:15.2	01:01.6	00:55.9
40	02:33.1	02:01.2	01:36.2	01:17.2	01:03.2	00:56.8
45	02:37.2	02:04.5	01:38.8	01:19.3	01:04.9	00:57.7
50	02:41.6	02:08.0	01:41.5	01:21.5	01:06.7	00:59.3
55	02:46.2	02:11.6	01:44.4	01:23.8	01:08.7	01:01.5
60	02:51.1	02:15.5	01:47.5	01:26.3	01:10.7	01:03.8
65	02:57.4	02:20.5	01:51.5	01:29.5	01:13.3	01:04.7
70	03:06.4	02:27.6	01:57.1	01:34.0	01:17.0	01:08.3
75	03:18.7	02:37.4	02:04.9	01:40.2	01:22.1	01:12.8
80	03:35.7	02:50.8	02:15.5	01:48.8	01:29.1	01:19.2
85	03:59.4	03:09.6	02:30.4	02:00.7	01:38.9	01:31.8
90	04:33.6	03:36.6	02:51.9	02:18.0	01:53.0	01:46.8

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

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	02:44.1	02:10.0	01:43.1	01:22.8	01:07.8	01:00.0
15	02:13.9	01:46.1	01:24.1	01:07.6	00:55.3	00:48.4
20	02:07.9	01:41.3	01:20.4	01:04.5	00:52.8	00:46.6
25	02:09.7	01:42.7	01:21.5	01:05.4	00:53.6	00:50.6
30	02:12.9	01:45.3	01:23.5	01:07.1	00:54.9	00:50.1
35	02:16.4	01:48.0	01:25.7	01:08.8	00:56.3	00:51.1
40	02:20.0	01:50.8	01:27.9	01:10.6	00:57.8	00:52.0
45	02:23.8	01:53.8	01:30.3	01:12.5	00:59.4	00:52.8
50	02:27.8	01:57.0	01:32.8	01:14.5	01:01.0	00:54.2
55	02:32.0	02:00.4	01:35.5	01:16.7	01:02.8	00:56.2
60	02:36.5	02:03.9	01:38.3	01:18.9	01:04.6	00:58.4
65	02:42.2	02:08.5	01:41.9	01:21.8	01:07.0	00:59.2
70	02:50.4	02:15.0	01:47.1	01:25.9	01:10.4	01:02.4
75	03:01.7	02:23.9	01:54.2	01:31.7	01:15.1	01:06.6
80	03:17.3	02:36.2	02:03.9	01:39.5	01:21.5	01:12.4
85	03:38.9	02:53.3	02:17.5	01:50.4	01:30.4	01:23.9
90	04:10.1	03:18.1	02:37.2	02:06.2	01:43.3	01:37.7

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

Female 200m Swimming Times

A good 200m time is 03:10 for women. This is the average time across all ages. The fastest 200m time is 01:52.23 for women.

Average 200m swim time by age and ability

Time
100m
100yd

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	05:56	04:38	03:43	03:05	02:38	02:14.39
15	05:09	04:01	03:14	02:40	02:17	01:55.06
20	05:04	03:57	03:10	02:37	02:14	01:52.23
25	05:06	03:59	03:12	02:39	02:15	02:02.06
30	05:14	04:05	03:17	02:43	02:19	02:02.35
35	05:22	04:11	03:22	02:47	02:22	02:05.38
40	05:30	04:18	03:27	02:51	02:26	02:08.42
45	05:39	04:25	03:32	02:56	02:30	02:10.09
50	05:49	04:32	03:38	03:01	02:34	02:11.40
55	05:59	04:40	03:45	03:06	02:39	02:16.28
60	06:09	04:48	03:51	03:11	02:43	02:16.57
65	06:24	04:59	04:00	03:19	02:50	02:24.07
70	06:45	05:15	04:13	03:30	02:59	02:29.56
75	07:13	05:37	04:31	03:44	03:11	02:47.46
80	07:52	06:08	04:55	04:04	03:29	03:05.95
85	08:46	06:50	05:29	04:33	03:53	03:14.51
90	10:05	07:52	06:19	05:14	04:28	03:52.96

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	02:58.2	02:19.0	01:51.6	01:32.4	01:18.8	01:07.2
15	02:34.7	02:00.6	01:36.8	01:20.2	01:08.4	00:57.5
20	02:31.8	01:58.3	01:35.0	01:18.7	01:07.1	00:56.1
25	02:33.2	01:59.4	01:35.9	01:19.4	01:07.7	01:01.0
30	02:37.0	02:02.4	01:38.3	01:21.4	01:09.4	01:01.2
35	02:41.0	02:05.5	01:40.8	01:23.4	01:11.2	01:02.7
40	02:45.2	02:08.8	01:43.4	01:25.6	01:13.1	01:04.2
45	02:49.7	02:12.3	01:46.2	01:27.9	01:15.0	01:05.0
50	02:54.4	02:16.0	01:49.2	01:30.4	01:17.1	01:05.7
55	02:59.4	02:19.8	01:52.3	01:32.9	01:19.3	01:08.1
60	03:04.7	02:24.0	01:55.6	01:35.7	01:21.7	01:08.3
65	03:12.0	02:29.7	02:00.2	01:39.5	01:24.9	01:12.0
70	03:22.3	02:37.7	02:06.6	01:44.8	01:29.4	01:14.8
75	03:36.4	02:48.7	02:15.5	01:52.1	01:35.7	01:23.7
80	03:55.9	03:03.9	02:27.6	02:02.2	01:44.3	01:33.0
85	04:23.1	03:25.1	02:44.7	02:16.3	01:56.3	01:37.3
90	05:02.7	03:56.0	03:09.5	02:36.8	02:13.8	01:56.5

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

Age	Beginner	Novice	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite	Record
10	02:43.0	02:07.1	01:42.0	01:24.4	01:12.1	01:01.4
15	02:21.4	01:50.3	01:28.5	01:13.3	01:02.5	00:52.6
20	02:18.8	01:48.2	01:26.9	01:11.9	01:01.4	00:51.3
25	02:20.1	01:49.2	01:27.7	01:12.6	01:01.9	00:55.8
30	02:23.6	01:51.9	01:29.9	01:14.4	01:03.5	00:55.9
35	02:27.2	01:54.8	01:32.2	01:16.3	01:05.1	00:57.3
40	02:31.1	01:57.8	01:34.6	01:18.3	01:06.8	00:58.7
45	02:35.2	02:01.0	01:37.1	01:20.4	01:08.6	00:59.5
50	02:39.5	02:04.3	01:39.8	01:22.6	01:10.5	01:00.1
55	02:44.0	02:07.9	01:42.7	01:25.0	01:12.5	01:02.3
60	02:48.9	02:11.7	01:45.7	01:27.5	01:14.7	01:02.4
65	02:55.6	02:16.9	01:49.9	01:31.0	01:17.6	01:05.9
70	03:05.0	02:24.2	01:55.8	01:35.8	01:21.8	01:08.4
75	03:17.9	02:34.3	02:03.9	01:42.5	01:27.5	01:16.6
80	03:35.7	02:48.1	02:15.0	01:51.8	01:35.4	01:25.0
85	04:00.6	03:07.5	02:30.6	02:04.7	01:46.4	01:28.9
90	04:36.8	03:35.8	02:53.2	02:23.4	02:02.4	01:46.5

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 200m swim time standards

Swimming Level analysed 4,676 qualifying results from 18,892 community results submitted by 11,171 Swimming Level users from 2021 to 2026 to produce our 200m swim time standards. We will continue to update them as more community data becomes available. See our standards timeline.

Community results	18,892
Community users	11,171
Qualifying results	4,676
Male results	3,281
Female results	1,395
Data start	31 December 2021
Data cutoff	14 October 2026
Model generated	14 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 200m was 03:46 across all ages and genders, 03:40 for men (now 25.0% faster) and 03:56 for women (now 24.0% faster).

Male
Female

Level	Previous	Current	Change %
Beginner	05:49	04:40	-19.9%
Novice	04:39	03:42	-20.5%
Intermediate	03:40	02:56	-20.0%
Advanced	02:53	02:21	-18.5%
Elite	02:18	01:56	-16.3%

Level	Previous	Current	Change %
Beginner	05:56	05:04	-14.8%
Novice	04:51	03:57	-18.7%
Intermediate	03:56	03:10	-19.3%
Advanced	03:11	02:37	-17.5%
Elite	02:36	02:14	-13.8%

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

200m World Records

Male 200m World Records (50m Pool)

Record	Age Category	Name	Time	Date	Age	Source
NR	10 & Under	Gabriel Brown	02:11.18	2026	-	USAS
NR	15-16	Luka Mijatovic	01:45.92	2025	-	USAS
WR	20-24	Paul Biedermann	01:42.00	28 Jul 2009	22	WA1
WR	25-29	David Alcolado Durango	01:50.76	16 Aug 2017	-	WA2
WR	30-34	Darian Townsend	01:49.56	6 Aug 2016	-	WA2
WR	35-39	Shogo Hihara	01:51.84	7 Aug 2023	-	WA2
WR	40-44	Vladmir Pyshnenko	01:53.65	2 Aug 2010	-	WA2
WR	45-49	Rodrigo Castro	01:55.39	25 Nov 2023	-	WA2
WR	50-54	Nicolas Granger	01:58.62	1 Jul 2017	-	WA2
WR	55-59	Valter Kalaus	02:02.91	10 Aug 2025	-	WA2
WR	60-64	Dan Stephenson	02:07.68	6 Aug 2017	-	WA2
WR	65-69	Rick Colella	02:09.39	6 Aug 2017	-	WA2
WR	70-74	Rick Colella	02:16.51	9 Aug 2025	-	WA2
WR	75-79	David Radcliff	02:25.66	6 Jun 2009	-	WA2
WR	80-84	Chris Dunn	02:38.32	17 Jan 2026	-	WA2
WR	85-89	Roberto Alberiche	03:03.50	1 Jul 2017	-	WA2
WR	90-94	Katsura Suzuki	03:33.64	12 Dec 2021	-	WA2

Female 200m World Records (50m Pool)

Record	Age Category	Name	Time	Date	Age	Source
NR	10 & Under	Leah Hayes	02:14.39	2016	-	USAS
NR	15-16	Missy Franklin	01:55.06	2011	-	USAS
WR	20-24	Ariarne Titmus	01:52.23	12 Jun 2024	23	WA1
WR	25-29	Jenna Campbell	02:02.06	22 Aug 2024	-	WA2
WR	30-34	Natthanan Junkrajang	02:02.35	14 Aug 2019	-	WA2
WR	35-39	Veronica Balsano	02:05.38	4 May 2025	-	WA2
WR	40-44	Maiko Fujino	02:08.42	4 Jul 2024	-	WA2
WR	45-49	Karlyn Pipes	02:10.09	13 Jun 2009	-	WA2
WR	50-54	Kirsten Cameron	02:11.40	2 May 2024	-	WA2
WR	55-59	Laura Val	02:16.28	6 Aug 2009	-	WA2
WR	60-64	Ellen Reynolds	02:16.57	22 Aug 2024	-	WA2
WR	65-69	Jeanette Brits	02:24.07	11 Apr 2026	-	WA2
WR	70-74	Laura Val	02:29.56	22 Aug 2024	-	WA2
WR	75-79	Charlotte Davis	02:47.46	17 May 2025	-	WA2
WR	80-84	Yoshiko Osaki	03:05.95	20 Sep 2019	-	WA2
WR	85-89	Yoshiko Osaki	03:14.51	7 Aug 2023	-	WA2
WR	90-94	Jane Asher	03:52.96	19 Jun 2022	-	WA2

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.
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.

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200m Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 200m swim time?

How long does it take to swim 200m?

Male 200m Swimming Times

Average 200m swim time by age and ability

Female 200m Swimming Times

Average 200m swim time by age and ability

What do the swimming standards mean?

Data behind the 200m swim time standards

Previous standards (28 Sep 2023)

200m World Records

Male 200m World Records (50m Pool)

Female 200m World Records (50m Pool)

References for WRs:

More Distances

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