How fast are you — really?
Type your race result, age and gender. We compare your time to the open-class world record adjusted for your age, using the WMA age-grading standard. The score levels the playing field across ages.
Your age-grade is 53.7% — local-class amateur. The world record holder for your age and gender ran the same distance in 53.7% relative to your time.
How runners typically map onto age-grade percentages. The scale is gender-neutral and age-adjusted, so a 70-year-old at 75% beats a 30-year-old at 65% in fitness terms.
Age-grading is a percentage that compares your race time to what the world record holder of your age and gender would run. 100% = age-group world record. 80%+ is generally considered "world-class amateur" territory. The system is published and maintained by World Masters Athletics (WMA) and used at most major masters events to compare runners across ages and genders fairly.
Tracking age-grade % over time is more useful than tracking raw race times — it controls for natural age-related slowdown. A 65% at age 25 and a 75% at age 55 are very different fitness levels: the 55-year-old is the better runner relative to age peers. Use age-grade to set goals (e.g., "I want to hit 70% by next year") and to compare across distances within your own training.
The formulas and ranges above are grounded in the following peer-reviewed literature.
Authoritative age-factor tables maintained by WMA, updated periodically. Our age factors are interpolated linearly between the published 5-year buckets.
View bookAge-group placement compares you only to other runners in your age bucket at one race. Age-grading compares you globally — to the world record holder of your age and gender. Two different metrics; both useful.
They’re statistical averages. Some runners decline faster, others slower. Genetic outliers can hold open-class times into their 40s; most runners follow the published curve closely. Use the result as a baseline, not a verdict.
Aging affects different energy systems differently. Most runners maintain endurance better than top-end speed, so marathon age-grades tend to be higher than 5K age-grades for masters runners. Track your age-grade across multiple distances to see your real fitness profile.
50% is healthy recreational. 60% is solidly trained. 70% is a national-class amateur in most age brackets. 80%+ is world-class amateur — top of your age bracket at world championships. 90%+ approaches age-group world records.