Pace and unit converter

Field-event marks in feet and inches

Jumps and throws are measured in metres. US results also give them in feet and inches. Type a mark in either unit.

How it is calculated

Every box is turned into one speed, in metres per second. The other boxes are worked out from that speed.

A mile is exactly 1,609.344 m and an inch is exactly 2.54 cm. Pace per km and per mile is shown to the second, per 400 m and per 100 m to the tenth.

For marks, metres are divided by 0.0254 to get inches, and 12 inches make a foot. US results give most marks to the quarter inch, and field-event marks are always rounded down, so the result is rounded down to the quarter inch. Feet and inches are turned into metres and rounded down to the centimetre, as World Athletics records jumps to the centimetre below the distance measured.

Worked example

A pace of 4:00 per km is 1,000 m in 240 s, so the speed is 4.17 m/s. That is 15.00 km/h, 9.32 mph, 6:26 per mile and 1:36.0 per 400 m. At this pace a 5 km takes 20:00 and a half marathon 1:24:23.

A long jump of 6.50 m is 255.91 inches. That is 21 feet and 3.91 inches, written as 21 ft 3¾ in once rounded down to the quarter inch.

Limits

• The distance table holds one pace for the whole distance. It is not a race prediction. For that, use the race time predictor.
• A mile is 9.344 m longer than 1600 m. To compare the two, use the mile and 1600 m converter.
• Pace per 400 m assumes a lap in lane 1. Whole laps in an outer lane are longer: see lane distances.

Sources

Conversion factors: NIST Special Publication 811, Appendix B.9 (inch, foot, mile and mph, all exact). Quarter-inch marks in US high school results: CHSAANow, “Track & field: measuring a better way”. Rounding marks down: MileSplit Colorado. Jumps recorded to the centimetre below: World Athletics Technical Rules, horizontal jumps.