Swimming is one of the most important events in the Modern Pentathlon. It can win or lose the event for the competitor. If you do not have a swimming background or are good at swimming, you will find it hard to compete at the highest levels of Modern Pentathlon.

That is why most Modern Pentathletes have a strong swimming background since they were young.

The swimming event is a 200 metre freestyle race. This is the same for both men and women and youths. Competitors are seeded according to their PB's or personal bests.

A time of 2 minutes 30 seconds is the time they need to reach to get their 1000 Pentathlon points. This is for the mens competitions. The women must get a time of 2 minutes 40 seconds to get their 1000 Pentathlon points.

A tenth of a second above or below that time will either cost you 1 Pentathlon point or give you an extra 1 Pentathlon point.

There is a penalty for people who do two false starts at the start of the race of 40 points. Also, if you don't touch the pool correctly at your turn or don't touch it at all, you will also lose 40 points as well.