masters-athletics

Age-Graded Running Times: How to Calculate Your Age-Grade Percentage (2026)

Age-Graded Running Times: How to Calculate Your Age-Grade Percentage (2026) Age-graded running times convert your race result into a percentage of the world record for your age and gender, using the formula age-grade % = world record ÷ (your time × age factor) × 100. A 50-year-old man who runs a 5K in 20:00 has a World Masters Athletics age factor of about 0.896, an age-graded time of 1,075.2 seconds (17:55), and against the 12:37 (757-second) men's 5K world record he scores 757 ÷ 1,075.2 × 100 = 70.4% — a regional-class performance. Calculate your own score to the second with the Age-Graded Running Calculator(/sports/age-graded-running-calculator). Consider one runner's age grade tracked over a decade-plus: a first sub-20 5K at age 34, a 19:42 that graded out at 64%. Fifteen years later, at 49, a 21:30 5K — nearly two minutes slower on the clock — graded higher, at 65%. The...