American swimming is unique — high school and NCAA competition runs in 25-yard pools (SCY), while USA Swimming national meets and Olympic Trials use 50-metre long-course pools (LCM). This converter helps swimmers, coaches, and college recruiters translate times accurately between yard and metre courses, accounting for the significant wall-turn differences.
USA Pool Converter — SCY ⇄ LCM
Yards to metres and metres to yards
Formats: ss.hh, m:ss.hh, or h:mm:ss.hh
Advanced: Per-wall advantage (seconds)
Adjust to match your turns & underwater skillsWhy US Swimmers Need This Converter
The United States is one of the few countries where competitive swimming is conducted primarily in 25-yard pools. From age-group to NCAA Division I, nearly all domestic competition is SCY. Yet USA Swimming national championships and international selection meets use 50-metre long-course pools.
This creates a real challenge for coaches and college recruiters who need to compare times across formats. A 50.00 in the 100 yards doesn't directly translate to a 100 metres time — you must account for the different pool lengths, turn counts, and the yards-to-metres distance gap.
College Recruiting & NCAA Conversions
- NCAA Division I, II, III: All compete in 25-yard SCY pools during the collegiate season. Coaches scout recruits by converting their long-course times to SCY equivalents.
- USA Swimming Junior Nationals: Long-course meet is the pinnacle for age-group swimmers and a key recruiting benchmark.
- Olympic Trials Cuts: Published in LCM format — swimmers training in yards need reliable conversions to gauge their progress.
- Equivalent Events: The 500 yard freestyle maps to the 400m free, and the 1650y "mile" maps to the 1500m. Our converter handles these equivalences automatically.
How the USA Swim Time Converter Works
- 1 Enter your time and select the source course and event.
- 2 We calculate the number of walls from the pool length and race distance.
- 3 We strip wall-turn advantages to estimate your free-water swimming speed (m/s).
- 4 We project that speed onto the target course, re-add wall gains, and display your estimated time with pace.
Results are estimates based on your wall-advantage settings. They are not official USA Swimming conversions.