800 yd Swim Times

Swimming Standards By Age And Ability

What is a good 800 yd swim time?

A good 800 yd time is 12:24 for men and 13:04 for women. This is the average 800 yd time across all ages. Compare your 800 yd time by age and ability below.

How long does it take to swim 800 yd?

For an intermediate swimmer, the average time to swim 800 yd is 12:24 for men and 13:04 for women.

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner20:4023:01
Novice15:5416:59
Intermediate12:2413:04
Advanced09:5410:29
Elite08:0708:44

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:49.503:08.8
Novice02:10.302:19.2
Intermediate01:41.701:47.2
Advanced01:21.201:26.0
Elite01:06.601:11.6

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

Swimming LevelMaleFemale
Beginner02:35.002:52.6
Novice01:59.202:07.3
Intermediate01:33.001:38.1
Advanced01:14.201:18.6
Elite01:00.901:05.5

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

Beginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite 5% 20% 50% 80% 95% 20:40 15:54 12:24 09:54 08:07 Finish Time - 800 yd

Male 800 yd Swimming Times

A good 800 yd time is 12:24 for men. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 800 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1026:4920:3716:0612:5110:32
1521:1616:2112:4610:1108:21
2020:4015:5412:2509:5408:07
2520:5716:0712:3410:0208:14
3021:2916:3112:5410:1708:26
3522:0316:5813:1410:3408:40
4022:3917:2513:3610:5108:54
4523:1717:5513:5911:1009:09
5023:5718:2614:2311:2909:25
5524:2518:4714:3911:4209:35
6025:0819:2015:0512:0209:52
6526:2320:1815:5012:3810:22
7027:3821:1516:3513:1410:51
7529:2122:3517:3714:0411:32
8031:5324:3219:0915:1712:31
8535:3527:2221:2217:0313:59
9041:0231:3424:3819:3916:07

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:39.902:49.102:12.001:45.301:26.4
1502:54.402:14.101:44.701:23.501:08.5
2002:49.602:10.401:41.801:21.201:06.6
2502:51.802:12.101:43.101:22.301:07.5
3002:56.202:15.501:45.801:24.401:09.2
3503:00.802:19.101:48.601:26.601:11.0
4003:05.802:22.901:51.501:29.001:13.0
4503:11.002:26.901:54.701:31.501:15.0
5003:16.502:31.101:58.001:34.101:17.2
5503:20.202:34.002:00.201:35.901:18.6
6003:26.102:38.602:03.801:38.801:21.0
6503:36.402:46.502:09.901:43.701:25.0
7003:46.702:54.302:16.101:48.601:29.0
7504:00.803:05.202:24.501:55.301:34.6
8004:21.503:21.202:37.002:05.301:42.7
8504:51.903:44.502:55.202:19.801:54.7
9005:36.504:18.903:22.002:41.202:12.2

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:21.102:34.702:00.701:36.301:19.0
1502:39.402:02.601:35.701:16.401:02.6
2002:35.101:59.301:33.101:14.301:00.9
2502:37.102:00.801:34.301:15.301:01.7
3002:41.102:03.901:36.701:17.201:03.3
3502:45.402:07.201:39.301:19.201:05.0
4002:49.902:10.701:42.001:21.401:06.7
4502:54.702:14.401:44.901:23.701:08.6
5002:59.702:18.201:47.901:26.101:10.6
5503:03.102:20.801:49.901:27.701:11.9
6003:08.502:25.001:53.201:30.301:14.0
6503:17.902:32.201:58.801:34.801:17.7
7003:27.302:39.402:04.401:39.301:21.4
7503:40.202:49.302:12.201:45.501:26.5
8003:59.103:03.902:23.601:54.601:33.9
8504:26.903:25.302:40.202:07.901:44.8
9005:07.703:56.703:04.702:27.402:00.9

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

Female 800 yd Swimming Times

A good 800 yd time is 13:04 for women. This is the average time across all ages.

Average 800 yd swim time by age and ability

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1027:1720:0715:3012:2610:21
1523:4517:3113:3010:4909:01
2023:1317:0813:1110:3508:48
2523:4517:3113:2910:4909:00
3024:1817:5513:4811:0409:13
3524:5318:2114:0811:2009:26
4025:2218:4214:2411:3309:37
4525:4819:0114:3911:4509:47
5026:3819:3815:0712:0810:06
5527:3520:2015:4012:3410:28
6028:2320:5616:0712:5610:46
6529:4021:5316:5113:3111:15
7031:2523:1017:5114:1911:55
7533:4424:5219:0915:2212:48
8036:4827:0920:5416:4613:58
8541:3330:3923:3618:5615:46
9047:3535:0627:0221:4118:03

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:43.802:45.002:07.101:41.901:24.9
1503:14.802:23.701:50.701:28.801:13.9
2003:10.502:20.501:48.201:26.801:12.2
2503:14.802:23.701:50.601:28.701:13.9
3003:19.302:27.001:53.201:30.801:15.6
3503:24.102:30.501:55.901:32.901:17.4
4003:28.002:33.401:58.101:34.701:18.9
4503:31.602:36.002:00.201:36.401:20.2
5003:38.402:41.102:04.001:39.501:22.8
5503:46.202:46.802:08.501:43.001:25.8
6003:52.802:51.702:12.201:46.101:28.3
6504:03.402:59.502:18.201:50.801:32.3
7004:17.703:10.102:26.401:57.401:37.7
7504:36.703:24.002:37.102:06.001:44.9
8005:01.903:42.602:51.502:17.501:54.5
8505:40.904:11.403:13.602:35.302:09.3
9006:30.304:47.803:41.702:57.802:28.0

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

AgeBeginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
1003:24.602:30.901:56.201:33.201:17.6
1502:58.202:11.401:41.201:21.201:07.6
2002:54.202:08.401:38.901:19.301:06.1
2502:58.102:11.401:41.201:21.101:07.6
3003:02.302:14.401:43.501:23.001:09.1
3503:06.602:17.601:46.001:25.001:10.8
4003:10.202:20.301:48.001:26.601:12.1
4503:13.502:22.701:49.901:28.101:13.4
5003:19.702:27.301:53.401:31.001:15.7
5503:26.802:32.501:57.501:34.201:18.4
6003:32.902:37.002:00.901:37.001:20.7
6503:42.502:44.102:06.401:41.401:24.4
7003:55.702:53.802:13.901:47.301:29.4
7504:13.003:06.602:23.701:55.201:35.9
8004:36.003:23.602:36.802:05.701:44.7
8505:11.703:49.802:57.002:22.001:58.2
9005:56.904:23.203:22.702:42.602:15.4

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 800 yd swim time standards

Our 800 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 879
Community users 523
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 800 yd was 14:22 across all ages and genders, 13:55 for men (now 12.2% faster) and 14:59 for women (now 14.6% faster).

LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner22:0820:40-6.7%
Novice17:3915:54-10.0%
Intermediate13:5512:24-10.9%
Advanced10:5809:54-9.8%
Elite08:4508:07-7.2%
LevelPreviousCurrentChange %
Beginner22:4023:01+1.6%
Novice18:3116:59-8.3%
Intermediate14:5913:04-12.7%
Advanced12:0710:29-13.5%
Elite09:5408:44-11.8%

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

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