5000 yd Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 5000 yd swim time?

A good 5000 yd time is 01:23:07 for men and 01:33:16 for women. This is the average 5000 yd time across all ages. Compare your 5000 yd time by age and ability below.

How long does it take to swim 5000 yd?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 5000 yd is 01:23:07 for men and 01:33:16 for women.

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:12:2302:27:11
Novice01:44:5401:57:24
Intermediate01:23:0701:33:16
Advanced01:06:3201:14:35
Elite54:1601:00:35

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:53.703:13.2
Novice02:17.702:34.1
Intermediate01:49.102:02.4
Advanced01:27.301:37.9
Elite01:11.201:19.5

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:38.902:56.6
Novice02:05.902:20.9
Intermediate01:39.701:51.9
Advanced01:19.801:29.5
Elite01:05.101:12.7

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

BeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite5%20%50%80%95%02:12:2301:44:5401:23:0701:06:3254:16Finish Time - 5000 yd

Male 5000 yd Swimming Times

A good 5000 yd time is 01:23:07 for men. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 5000 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1002:43:4102:09:4301:42:4701:22:1601:07:06
1502:17:1601:48:4701:26:1101:08:5956:16
2002:12:2501:44:5601:23:0901:06:3354:17
2502:12:3901:45:0801:23:1801:06:4054:23
3002:12:5401:45:1901:23:2701:06:4854:29
3502:13:0901:45:3101:23:3601:06:5554:35
4002:13:2401:45:4301:23:4601:07:0354:41
4502:16:2301:48:0501:25:3801:08:3355:55
5002:19:4201:50:4201:27:4301:10:1357:16
5502:23:1101:53:2801:29:5401:11:5858:42
6002:26:5001:56:2201:32:1201:13:4801:00:12
6502:31:0401:59:4301:34:5101:15:5501:01:56
7002:37:4602:05:0101:39:0401:19:1801:04:41
7502:47:5302:13:0201:45:2501:24:2301:08:49
8003:02:4302:24:4801:54:4401:31:5001:14:54
8503:24:3202:42:0502:08:2601:42:4801:23:51
9003:57:5403:08:3202:29:2301:59:3401:37:32

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:34.802:50.202:14.901:48.001:28.1
1503:00.102:22.801:53.101:30.501:13.8
2002:53.802:17.701:49.101:27.301:11.2
2502:54.102:18.001:49.301:27.501:11.4
3002:54.402:18.201:49.501:27.701:11.5
3502:54.702:18.501:49.701:27.801:11.6
4002:55.102:18.701:49.901:28.001:11.8
4502:59.002:21.801:52.401:30.001:13.4
5003:03.302:25.301:55.101:32.101:15.2
5503:07.902:28.901:58.001:34.401:17.0
6003:12.702:32.702:01.001:36.901:19.0
6503:18.202:37.102:04.501:39.601:21.3
7003:27.002:44.102:10.001:44.101:24.9
7503:40.302:54.602:18.301:50.701:30.3
8003:59.803:10.002:30.602:00.501:38.3
8504:28.403:32.702:48.502:14.901:50.0
9005:12.204:07.403:16.002:36.902:08.0

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:16.402:35.702:03.301:38.701:20.5
1502:44.702:10.501:43.401:22.801:07.5
2002:38.902:05.901:39.801:19.901:05.1
2502:39.202:06.201:40.001:20.001:05.3
3002:39.502:06.401:40.101:20.201:05.4
3502:39.802:06.601:40.301:20.301:05.5
4002:40.102:06.901:40.501:20.501:05.6
4502:43.702:09.701:42.801:22.301:07.1
5002:47.602:12.801:45.301:24.301:08.7
5502:51.802:16.201:47.901:26.401:10.4
6002:56.202:19.601:50.601:28.601:12.2
6503:01.302:23.701:53.801:31.101:14.3
7003:09.302:30.001:58.901:35.201:17.6
7503:21.502:39.602:06.501:41.301:22.6
8003:39.302:53.802:17.701:50.201:29.9
8504:05.403:14.502:34.102:03.401:40.6
9004:45.503:46.202:59.302:23.501:57.0

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

Female 5000 yd Swimming Times

A good 5000 yd time is 01:33:16 for women. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 5000 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1002:41:5002:09:0601:42:3401:22:0001:06:37
1502:29:5501:59:3501:35:0001:15:5801:01:43
2002:27:1101:57:2401:33:1601:14:3501:00:35
2502:27:2401:57:3401:33:2401:14:4101:00:41
3002:27:4101:57:4801:33:3501:14:5001:00:48
3502:27:5901:58:0201:33:4701:14:5901:00:55
4002:28:1701:58:1701:33:5801:15:0801:01:03
4502:28:3601:58:3201:34:1001:15:1801:01:10
5002:29:3601:59:2001:34:4801:15:4801:01:35
5502:33:0502:02:0701:37:0101:17:3401:03:01
6002:39:3102:07:1501:41:0501:20:5001:05:40
6502:49:4502:15:2401:47:3401:26:0101:09:53
7003:05:1702:27:4701:57:2501:33:5301:16:16
7503:25:5002:44:1102:10:2601:44:1801:24:44
8003:51:4903:04:5402:26:5401:57:2801:35:26
8504:25:4303:31:5702:48:2302:14:3901:49:23
9005:11:4704:08:4203:17:3502:37:5902:08:21

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:32.402:49.402:14.601:47.601:27.4
1503:16.702:36.902:04.701:39.701:21.0
2003:13.202:34.102:02.401:37.901:19.5
2503:13.402:34.302:02.601:38.001:19.6
3003:13.802:34.602:02.801:38.201:19.8
3503:14.202:34.902:03.101:38.401:19.9
4003:14.602:35.202:03.301:38.601:20.1
4503:15.002:35.602:03.601:38.801:20.3
5003:16.302:36.602:04.401:39.501:20.8
5503:20.902:40.302:07.301:41.801:22.7
6003:29.302:47.002:12.701:46.101:26.2
6503:42.802:57.702:21.201:52.901:31.7
7004:03.103:13.902:34.102:03.201:40.1
7504:30.103:35.502:51.202:16.901:51.2
8005:04.204:02.703:12.802:34.202:05.2
8505:48.704:38.103:41.002:56.702:23.5
9006:49.205:26.404:19.303:27.302:48.4

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

AgeBeginnerNoviceIntermediateAdvancedElite
1003:14.202:34.902:03.101:38.401:19.9
1502:59.902:23.501:54.001:31.201:14.1
2002:56.602:20.901:51.901:29.501:12.7
2502:56.902:21.101:52.101:29.601:12.8
3002:57.202:21.401:52.301:29.801:13.0
3502:57.602:21.601:52.501:30.001:13.1
4002:57.902:21.901:52.801:30.201:13.3
4502:58.302:22.201:53.001:30.401:13.4
5002:59.502:23.201:53.801:31.001:13.9
5503:03.702:26.501:56.401:33.101:15.6
6003:11.402:32.702:01.301:37.001:18.8
6503:23.702:42.502:09.101:43.201:23.9
7003:42.302:57.302:20.901:52.701:31.5
7504:07.003:17.002:36.502:05.201:41.7
8004:38.203:41.902:56.302:21.001:54.5
8505:18.904:14.303:22.102:41.602:11.3
9006:14.104:58.403:57.103:09.602:34.0

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 5000 yd swim time standards

Our 5000 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 278
Community users 188
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 5000 yd was 01:35:06 across all ages and genders, 01:31:51 for men (now 10.5% faster) and 01:39:24 for women (now 6.6% faster).

LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner02:26:0902:12:23-9.4%
Novice01:56:2901:44:54-9.9%
Intermediate01:31:5101:23:07-9.5%
Advanced01:12:2601:06:32-8.1%
Elite57:4454:16-6.0%
LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner02:30:2302:27:11-2.1%
Novice02:02:5101:57:24-4.4%
Intermediate01:39:2401:33:16-6.2%
Advanced01:20:2501:14:35-7.3%
Elite01:05:4201:00:35-7.8%

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

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