Swim for one hour and answer just one question: how far can I go? This simple format now provides an unusually large dataset on ageing in endurance sport.
Researchers analysed more than 50,000 participations in the virtual US Masters one-hour swim from 1985 to 2024.
Surprisingly linear for decades
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For women, the distance covered decreased by about 0.5 percent per year of age on average, up to roughly age 69. Only after that did the decline accelerate.
For men, the linear decline was about 0.9 percent per year, with the turning point occurring on average around age 75. After that, performance also declined more steeply.
This is not an individual ageing forecast
These figures describe large groups, not a person's future. Training volume, health, technique, previous performance level and competition experience vary greatly.
The dataset is nevertheless fascinating because it shows that endurance performance does not suddenly collapse at 40 or 50. In regularly trained Masters athletes, it can decline in a relatively orderly way over decades.
Masters swimming as a long-term laboratory
The one-hour swim is particularly well suited to this type of analysis. Unlike a short sprint, it requires endurance, technical economy and pacing over a prolonged period.
For Masters athletes, the message is motivating without pretending ageing does not happen: performance changes, but it remains trainable for a very long time. Large datasets are also increasingly helping to distinguish normal age-related development from avoidable performance losses.
Comparing with yourself remains best
Masters swimmers should not treat large population age curves as personal target values. Their own trends over several years are far more informative. Athletes who document technique, strength and training continuity can better judge whether a decline is plausibly age-related or whether modifiable factors such as a training break, injury or lack of intensity are involved.
SCIENTIFIC SOURCE
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42694021/