Comparing the distance you can swim may be a bit misleading as a very large component of skilled swimming is doing it efficiently. As you improve your stroke y

Comparing the distance you can swim may be a bit misleading as a very large component of skilled swimming is doing it efficiently. As you improve your stroke you become much more hydrodynamic and it takes far less effort (and time) to swim a given lap. For an extreme example, put someone who doesn't know how to swim at all into a pool. As they thrash about wildly they'll get a rather serious workout even though they'll scarcely make a lap.