Olympic 800m finalist breaks US Beer Mile record

Olympic athlete Nick Symmonds may have finished fifth in the 800m final in London, but he has returned home to break the US record. Not in the 800m mind you, but in the equally prestigious Beer Mile record.

By Declan Whooley

For those not entirely familiar with the sport, it consists of drinking a can of beer before running a lap of the race-track, which is repeated four times. Each lap cannot be completed until the beer is finished.

Like any respectable sport, there are just a couple of simple rules to adhere to. The beer must have an alcohol content of at 5%, it must be drunk from the can and there is a penalty fifth lap for those that get sick before the end.

Symmonds set a personal best time of 1:42.95 in the 800m Olympic final that was won by David Rudisha in a world record time, with many commentators stating it was one of the best track displays ever witnessed at the Olympic stage.

The American runner obviously used this as a training ground for the Beer Mile, which he completed in 5:19, breaking the US record in the process. He still has some way to go before eclipsing Canadian Jim Finlayson’s time of 5:09 set in 2007.

This footage shows Symmonds putting in the hard yards in training for the event.

Symmonds set his 400m personal best here in Dublin in July. We wonder if he managed to get in practice for the Beer Mile while he was here.