Times for 50m freestyle (avg->good->great)?

I'm sure there is. I wasn't far off personally. My first 50y free when i was 14 I went 29.9 after 3-4 weeks of swim practice. All i had done prior to that was swim in my backyard pool. I was a beginner, and could barely keep my head in the water. 29.9 doesn't convert too bad if you consider I could barely do a flip turn let alone a fast one. 33 even in lc meters maybe if I didn't have to stop and turn? I think its easy to arrive at that conversion. There's a counterexample for everything. I'm just saying, asking for subjective opinion, you'll get responses like mine, and responses that are far from mine as far as how some people want to classify times. Note: I should've denoted my classifications was for men also. I don't want anyone to think that I feel "beginner" is a dig or negative opinion of someone. I am in competition and have been for 18 years. When i see people in my age group going 30+ in a 50free the first thing on my mind is that they haven't trained enough to step from beginner to average. The list swimosaur posted is a very good objective classification of swimmers, but it would appear that it doesn't classify low enough to suit the needs of some. I agree with you about the subjectiveness of the question, but I think that's what the OP wanted -- a sense of what Masters swimmers tend to think of as fast. I also agree with you that the answers will be all over the map. But when you say "I don't want anyone to think that I feel "beginner" is a dig or negative opinion of someone" -- read the post just below yours, and imagine how someone who has been training and working hard for all of those years will feel to be called a beginner. And when you say, "When i see people in my age group going 30+ in a 50free the first thing on my mind is that they haven't trained enough to step from beginner to average" again, I think it would be hard for such a person not to feel insulted (i.e., that they just haven't worked hard enough). It's great that you started early enough and had enough natural athletic ability to swim so fast after only 4 weeks of training. But that is not true of most people, and frankly, it's comments like yours that make people think that Masters (or this discussion board) is only for top competitive swimmers. I'm saying this not because I want to start an argument (I don't), but because I think you must not be aware of the vast number of people who have been swimming and working hard for many years without achieving your speeds. I think you're also not aware of how elitist your comments sound. I don't think you intended them that way, but you're not representing the majority of Masters' swimmers experiences.

I'm sure there is. I wasn't far off personally. My first 50y free when i was 14 I went 29.9 after 3-4 weeks of swim practice. All i had done prior to that was swim in my backyard pool. I was a beginner, and could barely keep my head in the water. 29.9 doesn't convert too bad if you consider I could barely do a flip turn let alone a fast one. 33 even in lc meters maybe if I didn't have to stop and turn? I think its easy to arrive at that conversion. There's a counterexample for everything. I'm just saying, asking for subjective opinion, you'll get responses like mine, and responses that are far from mine as far as how some people want to classify times. Note: I should've denoted my classifications was for men also. I don't want anyone to think that I feel "beginner" is a dig or negative opinion of someone. I am in competition and have been for 18 years. When i see people in my age group going 30+ in a 50free the first thing on my mind is that they haven't trained enough to step from beginner to average. The list swimosaur posted is a very good objective classification of swimmers, but it would appear that it doesn't classify low enough to suit the needs of some. I agree with you about the subjectiveness of the question, but I think that's what the OP wanted -- a sense of what Masters swimmers tend to think of as fast. I also agree with you that the answers will be all over the map. But when you say "I don't want anyone to think that I feel "beginner" is a dig or negative opinion of someone" -- read the post just below yours, and imagine how someone who has been training and working hard for all of those years will feel to be called a beginner. And when you say, "When i see people in my age group going 30+ in a 50free the first thing on my mind is that they haven't trained enough to step from beginner to average" again, I think it would be hard for such a person not to feel insulted (i.e., that they just haven't worked hard enough). It's great that you started early enough and had enough natural athletic ability to swim so fast after only 4 weeks of training. But that is not true of most people, and frankly, it's comments like yours that make people think that Masters (or this discussion board) is only for top competitive swimmers. I'm saying this not because I want to start an argument (I don't), but because I think you must not be aware of the vast number of people who have been swimming and working hard for many years without achieving your speeds. I think you're also not aware of how elitist your comments sound. I don't think you intended them that way, but you're not representing the majority of Masters' swimmers experiences.