400 yd Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 400 yd swim time?

A good 400 yd time is 06:02 for men and 06:23 for women. This is the average 400 yd time across all ages. Compare your 400 yd time by age and ability below.

How long does it take to swim 400 yd?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 400 yd is 06:02 for men and 06:23 for women.

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner09:1310:10
Novice07:3008:01
Intermediate06:0206:23
Advanced04:5205:11
Elite03:5704:19

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:31.202:46.7
Novice02:03.002:11.4
Intermediate01:39.101:44.7
Advanced01:19.701:25.0
Elite01:04.701:10.7

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:18.302:32.5
Novice01:52.502:00.2
Intermediate01:30.601:35.8
Advanced01:12.901:17.7
Elite00:59.201:04.7

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

BeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite5%20%50%80%95%09:1307:3006:0204:5203:57Finish Time - 400 yd

Male 400 yd Swimming Times

A good 400 yd time is 06:02 for men. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 400 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1011:2309:1607:2806:0004:53
1509:2307:3806:0904:5704:01
2009:1307:3006:0204:5203:57
2509:1807:3406:0604:5403:59
3009:3207:4606:1505:0204:05
3509:4707:5806:2505:0904:11
4010:0208:1006:3505:1804:18
4510:1808:2306:4505:2604:25
5010:3608:3706:5605:3504:32
5510:5408:5207:0805:4504:40
6011:1309:0707:2105:5504:48
6511:3909:2807:3806:0804:59
7012:1509:5808:0206:2805:15
7513:0510:3908:3506:5405:36
8014:1411:3509:2007:3006:06
8515:5112:5410:2308:2106:47
9018:1114:4811:5509:3507:47

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:06.902:32.002:02.401:38.501:20.0
1502:34.002:05.301:40.901:21.201:05.9
2002:31.202:03.001:39.101:19.701:04.7
2502:32.702:04.201:40.001:20.501:05.4
3002:36.502:07.301:42.501:22.501:07.0
3502:40.502:10.601:45.101:24.601:08.7
4002:44.702:14.001:47.901:26.801:10.5
4502:49.102:17.601:50.801:29.101:12.4
5002:53.802:21.401:53.801:31.601:14.4
5502:58.702:25.401:57.101:34.201:16.5
6003:04.002:29.702:00.501:37.001:18.8
6503:11.002:35.402:05.201:40.701:21.8
7003:21.002:43.502:11.701:46.001:26.0
7503:34.702:54.702:20.701:53.201:31.9
8003:53.603:10.102:33.002:03.101:40.0
8504:20.003:31.602:50.402:17.101:51.3
9004:58.304:02.703:15.502:37.302:07.7

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1002:50.902:19.001:52.001:30.101:13.1
1502:20.801:54.601:32.301:14.201:00.3
2002:18.301:52.501:30.601:12.900:59.2
2502:19.601:53.601:31.501:13.600:59.8
3002:23.101:56.401:33.701:15.401:01.2
3502:26.701:59.401:36.101:17.401:02.8
4002:30.602:02.501:38.701:19.401:04.5
4502:34.602:05.801:41.301:21.501:06.2
5002:38.902:09.301:44.101:23.801:08.0
5502:43.402:12.901:47.101:26.101:09.9
6002:48.202:16.901:50.201:28.701:12.0
6502:54.702:22.101:54.401:32.101:14.8
7003:03.802:29.502:00.401:36.901:18.7
7503:16.302:39.702:08.601:43.501:24.0
8003:33.602:53.802:19.901:52.601:31.4
8503:57.803:13.502:35.802:05.401:41.8
9004:32.803:42.002:58.702:23.801:56.8

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

Female 400 yd Swimming Times

A good 400 yd time is 06:23 for women. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 400 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1012:0209:2907:3306:0805:06
1510:2408:1206:3205:1804:25
2010:1408:0406:2605:1304:20
2510:2708:1406:3405:2004:26
3010:4208:2606:4305:2704:32
3510:5708:3806:5305:3504:39
4011:1308:5107:0305:4304:46
4511:3009:0407:1405:5204:53
5011:4809:1807:2506:0105:00
5512:0709:3307:3606:1105:08
6012:3009:5107:5106:2305:18
6513:0410:1808:1206:4005:32
7013:4910:5408:4107:0305:52
7514:5211:4309:2007:3506:18
8016:1712:5010:1408:1806:54
8518:1714:2511:2909:1907:45
9021:1316:4313:1910:4909:00

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:17.302:35.502:03.901:40.601:23.7
1502:50.502:14.401:47.101:27.001:12.3
2002:47.902:12.401:45.501:25.601:11.2
2502:51.402:15.101:47.701:27.401:12.7
3002:55.502:18.301:50.201:29.501:14.4
3502:59.602:21.601:52.801:31.601:16.2
4003:04.102:25.101:55.601:33.901:18.1
4503:08.702:28.701:58.501:36.201:20.0
5003:13.602:32.602:01.601:38.701:22.1
5503:18.702:36.602:04.801:41.301:24.3
6003:25.102:41.702:08.801:44.601:27.0
6503:34.202:48.902:14.601:49.201:30.9
7003:46.702:58.702:22.401:55.601:36.2
7504:03.803:12.102:33.102:04.301:43.4
8004:27.103:30.602:47.802:16.201:53.3
8504:59.903:56.403:08.402:32.902:07.2
9005:47.904:34.203:38.502:57.402:27.5

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:00.402:22.201:53.301:32.001:16.5
1502:35.902:02.901:37.901:19.501:06.1
2002:33.502:01.001:36.401:18.301:05.1
2502:36.802:03.601:38.501:19.901:06.5
3002:40.402:06.501:40.801:21.801:08.0
3502:44.302:09.501:43.201:23.801:09.7
4002:48.302:12.701:45.701:25.801:11.4
4502:52.602:16.001:48.401:28.001:13.2
5002:57.002:19.501:51.201:30.301:15.1
5503:01.702:23.201:54.101:32.601:17.1
6003:07.602:27.901:57.801:35.601:19.6
6503:15.902:34.402:03.001:39.901:23.1
7003:27.302:43.402:10.201:45.701:27.9
7503:42.902:55.702:20.001:53.701:34.5
8004:04.303:12.502:33.402:04.601:43.6
8504:34.303:36.202:52.302:19.801:56.3
9005:18.104:10.803:19.802:42.202:14.9

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 400 yd swim time standards

Our 400 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 2,189
Community users 1,023
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 400 yd was 07:02 across all ages and genders, 06:49 for men (now 12.9% faster) and 07:19 for women (now 14.7% faster).

LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner10:5109:13-15.0%
Novice08:3907:30-13.2%
Intermediate06:4906:02-11.4%
Advanced05:2204:52-9.6%
Elite04:1703:57-7.9%
LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner11:0510:10-8.3%
Novice09:0308:01-11.5%
Intermediate07:1906:23-12.8%
Advanced05:5605:11-12.5%
Elite04:5004:19-11.0%

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

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