Two-time NCAA 5,000m champion James “The Beast” Nielson has apparently become the first person to break the five-minute barrier in the Beer Mile.

Two-time NCAA 5,000m champion James “The Beast” Nielson has apparently become the first person to break the five-minute barrier in the Beer Mile .

Via youtube.com

For those not familiar with the rules, the infamous Beer Mile is when someone runs a mile around a track, stopping every 400 metres to down a can of beer.

Here Nielson explains there is a 10-metre exchange zone in which the beers have to be consumed.

Via youtube.com

Canadian Nielson, who now lives in California, claims to have broken the “world record” for the event after completing the feat in 4 minutes 57 seconds at the weekend.

A video of his attempt, filmed by his wife, has quickly spread across the internet, with viewers marvelling at his effort and the time splits - for laps and beer chugging.

In the clip, Nielson said he trained for a year before his world record attempt.

He said the biggest challenge was not “drinking the beer fast and not running fast, it’s going to be getting that beer out of the can as quickly as possible and inhaling it”.

Via youtube.com