Time standards
What time standards does your swimmer's time meet?
Tell it where your swimmer swims, when they were born, and which event — and it lays out every standard they're eligible for, fastest to slowest, with their time marked against each one. No signup, nothing to install.
Add a birth date and the standards for that category appear.
What you get back
Every standard that applies, and the distance to each
Every applicable standard for that swimmer, in the federation's own vocabulary, with the distance to each one shown honestly in both directions: the ones already achieved and by how much, the next one and what's left. Where we know which meet a standard opens, we name the meet and the dates.
Enter a time and you also get World Aquatics points for the swim — the one number that compares a 50 breaststroke to a 400 freestyle, and this year to last year. If you'd rather just browse the tables, skip the time field.
What it covers
Eight standards systems, one lookup
National federations
International championships
The explainers behind the tables
Data updated July 2026. Every table on this site names the federation document it came from and the season it applies to.
The limits
Two things it deliberately won't do
It won't convert your swimmer's time between a 25m and a 50m pool to make a standard fit. Most federations forbid exactly that, so a converted number would be a fiction. For everything else, the swim time converter is a separate tool.
And it won't tell you your swimmer can't go. In several countries a qualifying time is the route that guarantees entry, while ranking lists top up the field. Where that's true, we say so on the country's page rather than leaving you with a wall.
Questions
Common questions
How do I know which time standards my swimmer qualifies for?
Pick the country, enter a birth date, gender, course and event, then the best time. The tool works out which age category the swimmer falls into under that federation's rules, which is not always the one you'd guess, and shows every standard that category is measured against.
Is this free?
Yes, and there's nothing to sign up for. The tables come from official federation documents and are free to read in full, whether or not you enter a time.
Which pool length should I choose?
The one the time was swum in. A 25m pool is short course, a 50m pool is long course. Nearly every federation requires the qualifying time to be swum in the same pool type as the championship, so getting the pool length right matters as much as the time.
My swimmer isn't close to any of these yet. Is the tool still useful?
That's most swimmers, and yes. Seeing the whole table, including the standards above the next one, turns a single time into a map. The nearest standard ahead is usually far closer than a parent assumes.
Reading
How to read a number like this
Gap vs. Gain: the one shift in how you talk to your swimmer
Gap thinking measures your kid against the goal. Gain thinking measures them against where they started. The frame you speak becomes the voice in their head.
Best time, not placement: what actually matters
Placement measures who else showed up. The personal best measures your swimmer, and it's the number worth talking about on the drive home.
The four stages of getting good: where your swimmer actually is
Getting good moves through four stages rather than a smooth ramp. The worst-feeling stage, where a kid first sees what they can't do yet, is where learning starts.
The rest of the library is about what to do with a number like this.
Start reading