How Fast Can Humans Swim
What Is Swimming Speed of World's Fastest Man or Woman Swimmers
Aug 19, 2009
How fast can people swim? How fast can the winners of sprint races, longer races, and endurance swimmers swim?
How to Calculate Average Speed
To calculate the average speed of anything physicists divide the total distance by the time it takes to travel that distance. The formula is:
average speed = distance/time.
People often use the words speed and velocity interchangeably, but in physics they have different meanings. Velocity includes direction; speed does not.
To find the average speed someone swims in a race, divide the length of the swim by the time required to complete the race. The appropriate speed unit will be the distance unit per the time unit. If the distance is in meters and the time is in second, the speed is in meters per second, which can be converted to miles per hour.
World's Fastest Man and Woman Swimmers
The fastest swimming stroke is the freestyle, and the fastest sprints are in the shortest distance, 50 meters. According to the Olympics website, the world record in the men's 50 meter freestyle was set by Frederick Bousquet in April 2009. He swam the 50 meters in 20.94 seconds, which gives an average speed of 2.39 meters/second. Multiplying this speed by 3600 seconds in an hour and dividing by 1609 meters in a mile gives his average speed as 5.34 miles/hour.
Britta Steffen broke her own Olympic record to set the women's 50 meter freestyle world record in Rome on August 2, 2009. She swam 50 meters in 23.73 seconds at an average speed of 2.11 meters/second or 4.71 miles/hour.
Speeds in Longer Swimming Events
The longest Olympic freestyle swimming events are 1500 meters for the men and 800 meters for the women.
Australian swimmer, Grant Hackett, holds both the world and Olympic records for this event. His 14 minute 34.56 second world record time for 1500 meters is slightly faster than his Olympic record. He swam 1500 meters at an average speed of 1.72 meters/second or 3.84 miles/hour.
British swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, set both the Olympic and world record for the 800 meter freestyle at the Beijing Olympics. Her time of 8 minutes 14.10 seconds gives an average speed of 1.62 meters/second or 3.62 miles per hour.
How Fast Can Michael Phelps Swim?
Michael Phelps' many records and gold medals are often in other strokes that are slower than the freestyle. He does however hold the Olympic record in the 200 meter freestyle event. Phelps swam the 200 meters in 1 minute 42.96 seconds at an average speed of 1.94 meters/second or 4.34 miles/hour.
Speeds for English Channel Endurance Swimming
The best known endurance swimming feat is swimming the English channel. The Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation is the governing body for this event and keeps track of channel swims and records.
The distance required to swim the English channel is less accurately measured than distances in pools because the exact course can vary. However the shortest distance across the English channel is about 21 miles.
The fastest man to swim this 21 mile distance was Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria. His time of 6 hours 57 minutes gives an average speed of 3.0 miles/hour. Yvetta Hlavacova from the Czech Republic was the fastest woman to swim the English channel. Her time of 7 hours 25 minutes gives an average speed of 2.8 miles/hour.
Despite being land rather than sea creatures, humans, with the right training, can swim at impressive speeds even over long distances.
 |
 |
