my 13yo, who has never competed, but loves hitting laps at the local pool for an hour or two, recently shared that he’s clocking 2500m in 32-33m. i know this is fast… but how fast? what does he need to win a 1500m in his age group and whats longer than 1500m? are there 2500m or 3000m races? a leisurely swim for him seems to be 4000m in just over an hour. seems impressive but I’ve no real idea. thanks.
32 minutes for a 2500 translates to about a 19:15 1500. That would rank him at #235 or so in Canada for the 13-14 age group (2017 rankings) if he’s doing that long course (lower if short course)
That time would possibly win some small meets. but it wouldn’t qualify for nationals or eastern / western champs…
Or, if you go by the USA swimming motivational standards, that’s a BB time standard in SCM.
https://www.usaswimming.org/...times/time-standards
ETA - your kid has potential if he does that with no comp swimming background.
1500 is the longest race in the pool.
If he’s doing this leisurely (just going to family swim or youth swim, etc and doing laps) without being on a team or competing, he’s doing damn great! Hell, he’s doing really well either way imo. I’m not sure of the times it would take to win, but equally as important right now is that he loves doing laps for a couple hours/day at his age. I wish him the best.
my 13yo, who has never competed, but loves hitting laps at the local pool for an hour or two, recently shared that he’s clocking 2500m in 32-33m. i know this is fast… but how fast? what does he need to win a 1500m in his age group and whats longer than 1500m? are there 2500m or 3000m races? a leisurely swim for him seems to be 4000m in just over an hour. seems impressive but I’ve no real idea. thanks.
That pace (1:17/100 m) for 2500 m is extremely impressive for a 13 yr old boy with no formal swim training. Get that kid on a team!!!
USA Swimming has great data based on the fact there are a couple hundred thousand age group swimmers in the US and since all the results these days, top to bottom, are in electronic form. USA Swimming can, and does, track performance top to bottom pretty closely without much effort. This document will tell you what you want to know. https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/timesdocuments/time-standards/2020motivationaltimes-top16.pdf?sfvrsn=13 You also can find the results for virtually any swim meet on line if you look hard enough so it is pretty easy to find out what kids your age in your area are doing.
The “Motivational Times” are based on actual performances and while each state and region sets it own time cut offs, the letters generally corrospond as follows:
AAAA - a national level time cut (e.g. the Junior Nationals qualifying time for 18 & U)
AAA - a regional or sectional qualifying time
AA - State meet qualifying time
A - a District meet qualifying time
Assuming the 19:15 long course time estimate above is accurate, in my state (Michigan) that is close to a state meet cut for a 13-14 boy. https://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=milsc&_stabid_=162570 That is better than it sounds since around here, it is fairly hard to make the USA State meet cuts.
FWIW, not a lot of 13-14’s swim the 1500. A 400m or 500yd time, or better, a 200 time is probably a more accurate predictor of potential at that age just because there is more data.
That pace (1:17/100 m) for 2500 m is extremely impressive for a 13 yr old boy with no formal swim training. Get that kid on a team!!!
I’d agree. While the time in and of itself is not earth shattering, the fact he can go that fast and the poster does not already know how that stacks up means it is likely the kid has extremely limited competitive swimming experience so that bodes well for for some serious untapped potential 
That pace (1:17/100 m) for 2500 m is extremely impressive for a 13 yr old boy with no formal swim training. Get that kid on a team!!!
I’d agree. While the time in and of itself is not earth shattering, the fact he can go that fast and the poster does not already know how that stacks up means it is likely the kid has extremely limited competitive swimming experience so that bodes well for for some serious untapped potential
The OP says in the first sentence that his son has never competed, so i would say he has zero competitive experience. Also, as another poster said, it’s very cool that he just likes to swim for the sake of the swimming itself. When he gets to be a little older, say 16 or 17, he needs to start coaching tri guys/girls on how to relax in the water and enjoy swimming. He sounds like a natural born swimmer.