What is a good 50m freestyle time for a 10-year-old?

Among Australian competitive age-group swimmers, the median 50m freestyle long course time for 10-year-olds is 34.27 seconds for boys and 35.04 for girls. Around 31.5 seconds (boys) and 31.9 (girls) puts a 10-year-old in the top 10% of competitive swimmers of their age.

Are these average times for all children, or just competitive swimmers?

Competitive swimmers only. Every time in these tables comes from a swimmer racing at a sanctioned Australian competition, so the "median" here is the middle of the competitive field — already well ahead of the average child of the same age. A swimmer near these medians is doing well.

Why do the tables use long course (50m pool) times?

Long course is the standard for championship pathways in Australia, and it keeps the comparison fair: short course (25m pool) times are typically one to two seconds faster per 100m because of extra turns. If your swimmer's PB is short course, expect it to be a little faster than the equivalent long course benchmark.

What is a good 50m freestyle time for a 12-year-old girl?

The median 50m freestyle long course time for 12-year-old girls in Australian competition is 31.21 seconds. Around 30.00 puts a swimmer in the top 25% of her age group, and about 29.11 in the top 10%. For 12-year-old boys the median is 30.48 seconds.

What is the average 50m breaststroke time for an 11-year-old?

Among Australian competitive swimmers, the median 50m breaststroke long course time at age 11 is 45.15 seconds for boys and 45.65 for girls. The top 25% swim around 41.85 (boys) and 42.62 (girls); the top 10% are near 38.92 and 39.99.

What is a good 50m butterfly time by age?

Median 50m butterfly long course times run from about 39.77 seconds for 10-year-old boys and 40.54 for girls, down to roughly 31.88 and 33.22 by age 13. Butterfly also improves fastest of any stroke through these years, so a slower starting point matters less here than in freestyle.

My swimmer is slower than the median for their age. Should I worry?

No. Half of all competitive swimmers are below the median by definition, entry age varies enormously, and year-on-year improvement matters far more than any single benchmark. A swimmer who starts behind and improves steadily routinely passes swimmers who were faster at 10. Trajectory beats snapshot.

Australian data · 2022–2026

Average swim times by age in Australia

See where your swimmer's times sit across every event.

The median 50m freestyle long course time for Australian competitive 12-year-olds is 30.48 seconds for boys and 31.21 for girls; the top 10% swim about 27.86 and 29.11. The tables below cover ages 8–16 across five events (7–16 for 50m freestyle), from more than 600,000 Australian race results. Updated 30 September 2026.

Find your swimmer

Their published times fill the table and show where each one sits in the field. No account needed.

Or type a time into any row to check it manually.

18 events · Girls · 12yrs — enter a time to see where it sits

Event

middle 50% of the fieldmediantop 10% thresholdinside top 10%ahead of mediannot yet← slower · faster →Australian swimmers · best LC time per swimmer at age 12 · last 24 months

50 Freeenter a time

50 Backenter a time

50 Breastenter a time

50 Flyenter a time

100 Freeenter a time

100 Backenter a time

100 Breastenter a time

100 Flyenter a time

200 Freeenter a time

200 Backenter a time

200 Breastenter a time

200 Flyenter a time

200 IMenter a time

400 Freeenter a time

400 IMenter a time

800 Freeenter a time

1500 Freeenter a time

2500 Freeenter a time

Events with fewer than 20 swimmers in this field are not shown.

Field: SwimProgress analysis of published meet results · one best time per swimmer, per event, per course, at their age on race day · to Oct 2026 · counts rounded down to the nearest ten. A time you type stays in your browser. Find my swimmer looks up a swimmer's published results, exactly as on the qualifying-times page.

How this is computed

One best time per swimmer, per event, per course, at their age on race day.
A swimmer's state is the state of the club they are currently listed with.
Cells with fewer than 20 swimmers are not published.
Swimmer counts are rounded down to the nearest ten.
The national field pools every state’s published results. It is not population-weighted and currently contains substantially more NSW results than other states.

The tables on this page use a larger, longer Australian snapshot, so the figures differ slightly.

Live field: each swimmer's best time over the past 24 months, from published Australian competition results, shown where a group has at least 20 swimmers. Long and short course are kept separate and it updates weekly. Aggregate only — no other swimmer is identified.

Average swim times by age in Australia

These tables show what Australian competitive age-group swimmers actually swim, event by event: median, top-25% and top-10% long course times for competitive swimmers aged 8–16 (7–16 for 50m freestyle), by event and gender, from more than 600,000 Australian race results. For each age we take every swimmer's best long course time at that age and report the median, the top 25%, and the top 10%. One thing to hold onto while you read: every swimmer here races at sanctioned competitions, so the median is the middle of the competitive field — not the average child in a learn-to-swim lane. A swimmer anywhere near these medians is going well.

50m Freestyle (LCM)

Best long course times per swimmer at each age · seconds
Age	Boys median	Boys top 25%	Boys top 10%	Girls median	Girls top 25%	Girls top 10%
7	45.18	41.14	38.19	46.46	43.10	39.55
8	40.14	37.68	35.58	41.63	38.34	36.52
9	36.78	34.73	33.29	37.64	35.54	33.79
10	34.27	32.71	31.50	35.04	33.09	31.89
11	32.38	30.95	29.79	33.07	31.61	30.35
12	30.48	29.08	27.86	31.21	30.00	29.11
13	28.72	27.50	26.48	30.25	29.04	28.27
14	27.38	26.29	25.48	29.48	28.45	27.67
15	26.54	25.52	24.70	28.95	27.97	27.23
16	25.88	24.97	24.24	28.71	27.81	27.12

View average 50m freestyle times by age →

100m Freestyle (LCM)

Best long course times per swimmer at each age
Age	Boys median	Boys top 25%	Boys top 10%	Girls median	Girls top 25%	Girls top 10%
8	1:33.08	1:26.96	1:22.82	1:35.49	1:29.09	1:23.68
9	1:23.67	1:18.80	1:15.15	1:26.16	1:20.68	1:16.12
10	1:17.51	1:13.26	1:10.22	1:19.56	1:14.38	1:11.14
11	1:12.71	1:09.04	1:06.05	1:14.18	1:10.33	1:07.46
12	1:08.05	1:04.26	1:01.72	1:09.42	1:06.20	1:04.01
13	1:03.68	1:00.67	58.04	1:06.51	1:03.74	1:01.39
14	1:00.23	57.73	55.85	1:04.61	1:01.96	1:00.32
15	58.11	55.79	53.96	1:03.12	1:00.67	59.35
16	57.03	54.62	53.03	1:02.55	1:00.26	59.07

View average 100m freestyle times by age →

50m Backstroke (LCM)

Best long course times per swimmer at each age · seconds
Age	Boys median	Boys top 25%	Boys top 10%	Girls median	Girls top 25%	Girls top 10%
8	49.02	45.92	43.19	50.02	45.73	43.84
9	44.75	41.79	39.85	45.75	42.56	40.48
10	41.60	39.07	37.26	42.29	39.61	37.79
11	39.27	36.82	35.06	40.08	37.39	35.71
12	36.91	34.70	32.70	37.58	35.33	33.75
13	34.65	32.71	30.77	35.96	34.12	32.75
14	32.71	30.75	29.36	34.87	33.16	31.81
15	31.33	29.64	28.53	34.20	32.49	31.23
16	30.59	29.00	27.80	33.67	31.99	30.77

View average 50m backstroke times by age →

50m Breaststroke (LCM)

Best long course times per swimmer at each age · seconds
Age	Boys median	Boys top 25%	Boys top 10%	Girls median	Girls top 25%	Girls top 10%
8	56.89	52.93	50.05	57.51	53.72	50.85
9	52.54	48.64	45.69	52.80	48.77	46.44
10	48.40	44.83	42.16	49.06	45.36	42.55
11	45.15	41.85	38.92	45.65	42.62	39.99
12	42.12	38.58	36.33	43.18	40.20	38.01
13	39.18	36.15	33.93	41.27	38.48	36.38
14	36.75	34.20	32.29	39.86	36.92	35.25
15	35.23	32.68	31.50	38.72	36.03	34.53
16	33.93	31.94	30.68	38.00	35.51	34.10

View average 50m breaststroke times by age →

50m Butterfly (LCM)

Best long course times per swimmer at each age · seconds
Age	Boys median	Boys top 25%	Boys top 10%	Girls median	Girls top 25%	Girls top 10%
8	50.66	44.99	40.52	50.54	44.89	41.86
9	43.71	39.69	37.07	44.85	40.53	37.48
10	39.77	36.41	34.64	40.54	37.21	35.05
11	37.00	34.31	32.76	37.74	34.96	33.25
12	34.19	32.08	30.44	34.80	32.98	31.52
13	31.88	30.09	28.64	33.22	31.52	30.23
14	29.83	28.53	27.38	31.98	30.65	29.56
15	28.80	27.56	26.54	31.30	30.00	28.94
16	28.00	26.94	26.02	30.91	29.59	28.70

View average 50m butterfly times by age →

How to read these tables

Median means half of competitive swimmers that age are faster and half are slower. Top 25% and top 10% mark the sharper end of the field — roughly the swimmers in contention at state-level meets in the older age groups. The gaps between columns shrink with age: at 8 the spread between median and top 10% in 50m freestyle is over four seconds, by 15 it is about two. That is the field converging as technique matures — and it is why small time drops matter more as swimmers get older.

You may notice girls' medians occasionally flatten or tick up at 15–16. That is not swimmers getting slower — it reflects smaller samples and the fact that girls typically reach mature performance earlier. Our companion analysis of how much swimmers improve each year covers this in detail. To check whether your swimmer is close to qualifying for a championship, try the qualifying times calculator.

Source: SwimProgress. Method: best long course time per swimmer, per event, per age (age at race date), aggregated across more than 600,000 publicly available Australian competition results (2022–2026), competitive swimmers. Medians and the top 25% use at least 45 swimmers; a top-10% shows only where the age has 100+ swimmers (otherwise a dash). Age is the swimmer's age on race day, based on their recorded or estimated birth date. Anonymised and aggregated. Computed 30 September 2026. Reuse freely with attribution (CC BY 4.0).

Average times for other events

Full by-age tables, one page per event:

Common questions

Straight answers, one page each, for the questions parents ask most:

Benchmarks are a snapshot. Progress is the story.

SwimProgress shows your swimmer's PB history, improvement rate, and place in the field for every event — free for families.

Find your swimmer →

Free · takes 2 minutes