World Aquatics points
World Aquatics points (FINA points)
One score for any swim, so a 50 breaststroke and a 400 free compare. Swim the base time and you score 1000.
P = 1000 × (B ÷ T)³
| Points | Level |
|---|---|
| 950+ | World class |
| 850–949 | International level |
| 750–849 | National level |
| 650–749 | Championship level Competitive at a national age-group championship. |
| 550–649 | Club level |
| 400–549 | Developing Technique landing, times moving. |
| 0–399 | Starting out Learning the event. Normal at 10 and 11. |
There's no official scale. These are rough signposts, not grades. Want the points for a real swim? Enter it in the lookup.
Good to know
- It's cubed. A swim 10% slower than the base time scores about 751, not 900. 20% slower scores about 579. 30% slower, about 455.
- Each tenth is worth more near the top. The same % gain earns more points the faster a swimmer already is.
- Base times change every year. Long course runs the calendar year. Short course runs September to August. The same swim can score slightly differently.
- FINA points are the same thing. FINA is World Aquatics' old name.
- Points don't qualify anyone. No championship admits on points. In Portugal, the TAC decides.
- Don't mix scales. Some federations publish their own points tables. Their scores can't be compared with these.
- No yards table. Points exist for 25 m and 50 m pools only.
- Watch the trend. Is the score going up this season? Which event scores best? Often not the one you'd guess.
The base times
World Aquatics base times, 2026
The B in the formula, for every event World Aquatics publishes.
Long course (50 m) Show times Hide times
| Event | World Aquatics Points Base Times (LCM 2026) |
|---|---|
| 50 m Free | 23.61 |
| 100 m Free | 51.71 |
| 200 m Free | 1:52.23 |
| 400 m Free | 3:54.18 |
| 800 m Free | 8:04.12 |
| 1500 m Free | 15:20.48 |
| 50 m Back | 26.86 |
| 100 m Back | 57.13 |
| 200 m Back | 2:03.14 |
| 50 m Breast | 29.16 |
| 100 m Breast | 1:04.13 |
| 200 m Breast | 2:17.55 |
| 50 m Fly | 24.43 |
| 100 m Fly | 54.60 |
| 200 m Fly | 2:01.81 |
| 200 m IM | 2:05.70 |
| 400 m IM | 4:23.65 |
| Relays (club entries) | |
| 4×100 m Free relay | 3:27.96 |
| 4×200 m Free relay | 7:37.50 |
| 4×100 m Medley relay | 3:49.34 |
| Event | World Aquatics Points Base Times (LCM 2026) |
|---|---|
| 50 m Free | 20.91 |
| 100 m Free | 46.40 |
| 200 m Free | 1:42.00 |
| 400 m Free | 3:39.96 |
| 800 m Free | 7:32.12 |
| 1500 m Free | 14:30.67 |
| 50 m Back | 23.55 |
| 100 m Back | 51.60 |
| 200 m Back | 1:51.92 |
| 50 m Breast | 25.95 |
| 100 m Breast | 56.88 |
| 200 m Breast | 2:05.48 |
| 50 m Fly | 22.27 |
| 100 m Fly | 49.45 |
| 200 m Fly | 1:50.34 |
| 200 m IM | 1:52.69 |
| 400 m IM | 4:02.50 |
| Relays (club entries) | |
| 4×100 m Free relay | 3:08.24 |
| 4×200 m Free relay | 6:58.55 |
| 4×100 m Medley relay | 3:26.78 |
Short course (25 m) Show times Hide times
| Event | World Aquatics Points Base Times (SCM 2025-26 season) |
|---|---|
| 50 m Free | 22.83 |
| 100 m Free | 50.25 |
| 200 m Free | 1:50.31 |
| 400 m Free | 3:50.25 |
| 800 m Free | 7:57.42 |
| 1500 m Free | 15:08.24 |
| 50 m Back | 25.23 |
| 100 m Back | 54.02 |
| 200 m Back | 1:58.04 |
| 50 m Breast | 28.37 |
| 100 m Breast | 1:02.36 |
| 200 m Breast | 2:12.50 |
| 50 m Fly | 23.94 |
| 100 m Fly | 52.71 |
| 200 m Fly | 1:59.32 |
| 100 m IM | 55.11 |
| 200 m IM | 2:01.63 |
| 400 m IM | 4:15.48 |
| Relays (club entries) | |
| 4×50 m Free relay | 1:32.50 |
| 4×100 m Free relay | 3:25.01 |
| 4×200 m Free relay | 7:30.13 |
| 4×50 m Medley relay | 1:42.35 |
| 4×100 m Medley relay | 3:40.41 |
| Event | World Aquatics Points Base Times (SCM 2025-26 season) |
|---|---|
| 50 m Free | 19.90 |
| 100 m Free | 44.84 |
| 200 m Free | 1:38.61 |
| 400 m Free | 3:32.25 |
| 800 m Free | 7:20.46 |
| 1500 m Free | 14:06.88 |
| 50 m Back | 22.11 |
| 100 m Back | 48.33 |
| 200 m Back | 1:45.63 |
| 50 m Breast | 24.95 |
| 100 m Breast | 55.28 |
| 200 m Breast | 2:00.16 |
| 50 m Fly | 21.32 |
| 100 m Fly | 47.71 |
| 200 m Fly | 1:46.85 |
| 100 m IM | 49.28 |
| 200 m IM | 1:48.88 |
| 400 m IM | 3:54.81 |
| Relays (club entries) | |
| 4×50 m Free relay | 1:21.80 |
| 4×100 m Free relay | 3:01.66 |
| 4×200 m Free relay | 6:40.51 |
| 4×50 m Medley relay | 1:29.72 |
| 4×100 m Medley relay | 3:18.68 |
Questions
Common questions
What are FINA points in swimming?
The old name for World Aquatics points. One score per swim, so any two swims compare, whatever the stroke, distance, gender or age.
How do I calculate World Aquatics points by hand?
Divide the base time by your swimmer's time, cube it, and multiply by 1000. Use the same event, gender and pool for both. Or enter the swim in our lookup.
Do World Aquatics points change every year?
The formula doesn't. The base times do, so the same swim can score slightly differently from one year to the next.
What is a good points score for a 13-year-old?
It depends on the event and the swimmer. Better questions: is the score higher than last season, and which event scores best?
The lookup
Check your own swimmer
Enter a time in the lookup. You get the points, the level, and every TAC the swim already meets.
Reading
How to read a number like this
Source
Where these numbers come from
World Aquatics Points - Base Times: SCM (25m) 2025 & LCM (50m) 2026
World Aquatics Point Scoring 2026 - Men Individual - Long Course (50m)
World Aquatics Point Scoring 2026 - Women Individual - Long Course (50m)
World Aquatics Point Scoring 2025 - Men Individual - Short Course (25m)
World Aquatics Point Scoring 2025 - Women Individual - Short Course (25m)
World Aquatics Championships Budapest 2027 - Swimming Qualification (Version 1)
World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships Otopeni 2025 - Summons
World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships Otopeni 2025 - Team Leaders' Guide v1.0
European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships Regulations - Updated 15 March 2025
European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 - Information Bulletin 1
2027 European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships to be hosted in Croatia
What to know about this transcription
- WJC_2025_ENTRY, EA_SENIOR_LCM_ENTRY and EA_JUNIOR_2026_ENTRY are standardSets with ZERO cells by design -- both World Aquatics (Junior Worlds) and European Aquatics (senior + junior Europeans) select teams by Member Federation quota and ranking-based lane seeding, NOT a universal published qualifying time. This was verified directly in each federation's own regulations document (see sourceIds), not inferred.
- The 2027 edition of the WA points base times has not been published as of retrieval (2026-07-26); the current 2026 (LCM) / 2025-26 season (SCM) editions were extracted as the most recent applicable set, per contract guidance.
- cellCount (158) excludes the zero-cell standardSets and is computed programmatically (not hand-counted) by walking the 'standards' tree: LCM male/female = 20 base (17 individual + 3 relay) + 17 'A' + 17 'B' = 54 each = 108; LCM mixed = 2 (relay base only); SCM male/female = 23 base (18 individual + 5 relay) each = 46; SCM mixed = 2 (relay base only). 108 + 2 + 46 + 2 = 158.
- The Budapest 2027 qualification PDF was retrieved via a national-federation mirror because the canonical worldaquatics.com qualifications page is a client-rendered SPA that does not expose a direct file link to automated fetching; see src_worlds_budapest2027_qual notes for full chain of custody.
- LCM has no individual 100m Medley event (not part of the senior LCM program) and SCM has no 4x50/4x100/4x200 relay B/A worlds qualifying values (Worlds A/B only exists for LCM, not modeled for SCM at all since Budapest 2027 is an LCM meet) -- documented gaps, not missing data.
- European Aquatics U23 Championships and Short Course (SCM) Championships regulations were also pulled and read (same 'no universal standard' finding) but were out of the brief's explicit scope (European Championships + European Junior Championships) and are not modeled as standardSets here; flagged in the report as a possible future extension.