Results to 10 Nov 2026

Times

The times typical at each age, where a time sits among them, and the national qualifying times.

Tap to compare years

Key figures (4)2026 so far

1:17.00

a typical 12-year-old girl’s 100 freestyle in a 25 m pool; boys 1:16.28

6.1 s

faster in a year: a typical 12-year-old girl’s 100 freestyle (SC) against the same months of the year before; boys 7.3 s

2.3%

slower in a 50 m pool: a 100 freestyle, for swimmers* who swam both within 45 days

11%

how much faster boys swim than girls of the same age from 14 on, speed against speed: typical 100 freestyle times in a 25 m pool

* Swimmers are those who raced at a meet in Swimming New Zealand’s results; club members who did not race are not counted.

01Times2026 so far

What times are typical at each age?

A typical girl’s best 50 Freestyle SC is 51.23 at 8 and under, 32.53 at 13 and 28.72 at 18 and over.

Best times in 2026 so far, in seconds. Typical is the median: half the swimmers of each age were faster, half slower. The band holds the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile; faster times are higher up.

50 Freestyle, SC, girls: best times in seconds
Age	Swimmers	Fastest quarter	Typical (median)	Slowest quarter
8 and under	166	under 45.34	51.23	over 59.78
9	326	under 40.77	45.46	over 50.98
10	553	under 38.18	41.78	over 46.48
11	684	under 35.27	38.38	over 41.76
12	682	under 32.50	34.96	over 38.42
13	469	under 30.57	32.53	over 35.19
14	318	under 29.73	31.16	over 33.22
15	256	under 29.08	30.30	over 31.94
16	154	under 28.66	29.72	over 30.80
17	82	under 27.89	28.98	over 30.37
18 and over	83	under 26.74	28.72	over 30.78

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · best times of girls at each age (one with a birthday in the period counts at both), ages with 30 or more of them · n = 3,773

02Look up a time2026 so far

Where does a time sit?

The age is on the day of the race. The event, pool, gender and years are chosen for this sheet and the chart above together.

Event:

Age:

Time:

Type a time to see how many of every 100 girls aged 13 it is faster than.

Convert a time between 25 m, 50 m and 25-yard pools

This only places a time among swimmers of the same age and gender. It says nothing about what comes next.

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · girls aged 13 who swam this event · n = 469

03A year on2026 so far

How much faster in a year?

The younger, the more a year takes off: a typical girl aged 8 and under swam the 50 Freestyle SC 7.3 s faster than in the same months of 2025, at 12 2.5 s, at 14 1.2 s, and from 16 less than half a second; half of the 12-year-old girls took off between 1.2 and 4.4 s.

Girls who swam the event in both years: the seconds their best this year took off their best of the same months a year before, at their age at this year’s best. The dot is the typical swimmer (the median), the bar the middle half; below zero, slower than a year before.

TypicalMiddle half

Seconds a year took off: 50 Freestyle SC, girls
Age	Swimmers	Typical	Middle half
8 and under	35	7.3	3.7 to 12.1
9	114	5.8	3.4 to 7.8
10	193	4.8	2.4 to 8.1
11	344	4.0	2.4 to 6.1
12	375	2.5	1.2 to 4.4
13	313	1.6	0.7 to 2.8
14	213	1.2	0.4 to 1.9
15	177	0.6	0.1 to 1.2
16	114	0.3	−0.1 to 0.8
17	56	0.1	−0.3 to 0.6
18 and over	66	0.0	−0.4 to 0.4

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · n = 2,000 girls

04Pools2026 so far

How much slower is a 50 m pool?

A 100 freestyle was typically 2.3% slower in a 50 m pool than the same swimmer’s best in a 25 m pool within 45 days - about 1.6 s on a typical 1:10.06 swim in a 25 m pool; the most, 4.4%, in the 200 breaststroke.

Swimmers who swam an event in both pools within 45 days in 2026 so far: how much slower their race in a 50 m pool was than their best in a 25 m pool, typical (the median). What these swimmers did, not a rule for converting a time.

the darker, the slower in a 50 m pool

How much slower in a 50 m pool
Event	Slower	Swimmers
50 Freestyle	2.4%	1,498
100 Freestyle	2.3%	1,079
200 Freestyle	3.6%	545
400 Freestyle	3.4%	213
800 Freestyle	3.4%	42
1500 Freestyle	2.5%	31
50 Backstroke	3.0%	999
100 Backstroke	3.7%	641
200 Backstroke	4.3%	270
50 Breaststroke	3.4%	947
100 Breaststroke	4.2%	614
200 Breaststroke	4.4%	268
50 Butterfly	1.9%	963
100 Butterfly	2.6%	338
200 Butterfly	3.9%	59
200 Individual Medley	3.2%	476
400 Individual Medley	3.6%	67

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · n = 9,050 swimmers and events

05Girls and boys2026 so far

When do boys pull ahead?

At 12, a typical boy’s 50 Freestyle SC is 2% faster than a typical girl’s; at 16, 12% faster; the gap grows most between 12 and 13. Yet they overlap: at 12, 44 in 100 girls swim faster than the typical boy; at 14, 13 in 100; from 16, fewer than 5 in 100.

Typical (median) best time at each age, girls and boys; faster is higher. “Faster than” compares speeds: the girls’ time over the boys’.

Typical best 50 Freestyle SC, girls and boys
Age	Girls	Boys	Boys faster
8 and under	51.23	48.60	5.4%
9	45.46	44.12	3.0%
10	41.78	41.50	0.7%
11	38.38	37.77	1.6%
12	34.96	34.35	1.8%
13	32.53	30.93	5.2%
14	31.16	28.94	7.7%
15	30.30	27.41	10.5%
16	29.72	26.44	12.4%
17	28.98	25.95	11.7%
18 and over	28.72	25.31	13.5%

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · n = 6,893 swimmers

06Top ten2026 so far

What time makes the top ten at each age?

The tenth fastest 12-year-old girl swam the 50 Freestyle SC in 29.24 in 2026 so far, 5.7 s under the typical 34.96; the tenth fastest boy, 28.69.

The best time of the tenth fastest swimmer at each age - every swimmer once, by their best, at their age on the day - with the typical time after it.

Age	Girls: tenth · typical	Boys: tenth · typical
8 and under	41.53 · 51.23	40.06 · 48.60
9	35.77 · 45.46	35.09 · 44.12
10	33.01 · 41.78	33.12 · 41.50
11	30.86 · 38.38	31.05 · 37.77
12	29.24 · 34.96	28.69 · 34.35
13	28.06 · 32.53	26.77 · 30.93
14	27.75 · 31.16	25.38 · 28.94
15	27.03 · 30.30	24.47 · 27.41
16	27.39 · 29.72	24.08 · 26.44
17	27.51 · 28.98	23.93 · 25.95
18 and over	26.08 · 28.72	22.36 · 25.31

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · every swimmer once, by their best

07Over the years2016 to 2026

How have times changed since 2016?

Girls aged 12 swam the 50 Freestyle SC in a typical 34.96 in 2026, 0.02 s slower than in 2016; the fastest typical year was 2021, 33.98; the fastest swam 28.16.

Each swimmer’s best time in 1 Jan to 10 Nov of each year, at the age on the day of the race, in seconds. Typical is the median; the band holds the middle half; faster times are higher up.

50 Freestyle, SC, girls aged 12

Year	Typical	Fastest	Swimmers
2026	34.96	28.16	682
2025	35.03	28.31	674
2024	35.34	28.00	611
2023	35.34	27.53	640
2022	34.60	27.37	592
2021	33.98	27.59	537
2020	34.24	28.14	602
2019	34.24	27.58	705
2018	34.44	27.72	739
2017	34.59	28.25	704
2016	34.94	27.70	665

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov of every year 2016 to 2026

08Qualifying times

What are the national qualifying times?

The 2026 NZ Age Group Championships have a qualifying time in 17 events for girls aged 13, one for each pool.

Version 1 of 23 October 2025. The NZ Age Group Championships (NAGS) take ages on their first day of racing (8 April 2026) and have their own qualifying window: these are the times as published, not a list of who may enter. The multi-class times, set by sport class, are in Swimming New Zealand’s own table.

NZ Age Group: girls aged 13

Event	SC	LC
50 Freestyle	29.04	29.89
100 Freestyle	1:04.97	1:06.67
200 Freestyle	2:22.83	2:26.23
400 Freestyle	4:57.73	5:04.53
800 Freestyle	10:22.84	10:36.44
1500 Freestyle	20:01.12	20:26.62
50 Backstroke	33.37	34.22
100 Backstroke	1:12.95	1:14.65
200 Backstroke	2:38.48	2:41.88
50 Breaststroke	37.94	38.94
100 Breaststroke	1:25.02	1:27.02
200 Breaststroke	3:09.12	3:13.12
50 Butterfly	31.32	32.02
100 Butterfly	1:13.43	1:14.83
200 Butterfly	2:52.53	2:55.33
200 Individual Medley	2:41.51	2:44.91
400 Individual Medley	5:52.66	5:59.46

Source: Swimming New Zealand, 2026 NZ Age Group Championships qualifying times, Version 1 of 23 October 2025

09Qualifying times2026 so far

How many swim national qualifying times?

Nearly 1 in 3 swimmers aged 13 to 16 swam at least one race faster than the 2026 NZ Age Group qualifying time for their age; at 13, 1 in 6, at 16, 54 in 100.

Swimmers of each age, per 100, with a race faster than the qualifying time for their age, gender, event and pool.

Source: Swimming New Zealand results, 1 Jan to 10 Nov 2026 · age at the last race · n = 2,131 swimmers aged 13 to 16

Swimmers with a race faster than the qualifying time for their age, gender, event and pool, per 100, NZ Age Group times
Age	Per 100	Swimmers
13	18	765
14	35	571
15	39	446
16	54	349