Josh Kerr Contemplates the Beer Mile World Record

In July, Josh Kerr ran a mile in 3:42.66 in front of 60,000 people in London and erased a world record that had stood since 1999. A normal person would spend the rest of the year basking.

Josh Kerr, it turns out, has been watching beer mile footage.

At 7:13 of his latest YouTube video, the fastest miler in human history pulls up Corey Bellemore's 4:27 beer mile world record, starts picking apart the splits, and openly wonders whether he could take it.

We have questions. Mostly just one: Josh, are you going to pull up to Cologne?

Project 267

Quick recap for the beer mile faithful who spent July at the pub instead of refreshing Diamond League results: back in March, Kerr announced he would break the mile world record at the London Diamond League on July 18. Brooks branded the attempt Project 222, after the number of seconds he had to get under. He then went out and did exactly what he said he would, on the exact day he said he would, which is a deeply unreasonable way to behave.

The beer mile world record is 4:27. That's 267 seconds.

We're not saying anyone should start printing Project 267 merch. We're just saying the number is sitting right there.

What Josh is looking at

For Kerr's viewers who just wandered in: a beer mile is four laps of a 400m track with a beer before each lap. Every beer is a 12oz (355ml) can or bottle, at least 5% ABV, finished completely. Throw up and you owe a penalty lap. That's the whole sport.

Corey Bellemore set the current record at the 2025 Beer Mile World Classic in Lisbon, in serious heat, on the way to his seventh world title. He's been atop the all-time list since 2016, he's a 3:57 miler without the beer, and he once ran 4:30 for the beer mile in one shoe.

His record-setting splits went roughly like this: a 56-second first lap, then 60, 61, and 61, with each beer disappearing in an average of seven seconds.

The split that should worry Josh

Kerr's first 400m in London, run behind pacers, in custom Brooks spikes and a one-off speedsuit, with a sold-out stadium screaming at him: 55.3.

Bellemore's first lap in Lisbon, run seconds after chugging a beer: about 56.

Yes, the beer mile lap split doesn't include the chug zone. No, that does not make it any less deranged. The mile world record went out less than a second faster than a man who had just finished a beer.

Josh's breakdown

Kerr opens his beer mile tape study with a concession: he'd be down about two seconds before he takes a single step. Bellemore and the rest of the elites got their first beers down in around five or six seconds. Kerr figures he can manage a seven-second opener.

Then the running starts, and Josh perks right up. "These guys are running slow," says the man we tried very hard to warn one section ago. In fairness, he's not wrong. A 60-second lap is basically four-minute-mile pace, and his world record averaged about 55 a lap.

But the tape keeps rolling, the beers keep stacking up, and the swagger starts to leak. "The issue I'm having is beer 3 and 4," he admits.

Josh, everyone's issue is beer 3 and 4. That's the whole sport.

The verdict: Kerr never puts a number on it. But this is Josh Kerr. We'd bet he's already stewing over how to climb to the top of the world rankings in the greatest sport on Earth: the beer mile.

We ran the numbers so Danny Mackey doesn't have to

Say Kerr shows up and runs his 3:42.66 between beers, completely unbothered by 48 ounces of beer sloshing around inside him. That leaves roughly 44 seconds to get four beers down and still tie the record. Call it 11 seconds a beer. Bellemore drinks them in seven, on average.

On paper, that's a comfortable cushion.

Paper has never run a beer mile. Look at Bellemore's laps again: 56, 60, 61, 61. That five-second fade is what four beers do to the greatest beer miler who has ever lived. Nobody knows what they'd do to Kerr, including Kerr.

As for his beer training block: after breaking the world record, he wrote in The Telegraph that he had his first beer in months to slow down and savor the moment. Then, according to Sky Sports, he couldn't sleep and went out for another run. Beer, then a run. Technically that's the first lap of a beer mile, with a transition zone measured in hours.

Corey Bellemore has spent a decade proving that beer does not slow you down nearly as much as it should. But Corey is also a trained professional.

The Kerr factor

Here's what should concern the beer mile establishment: Kerr calls his shots. He told the world in March what he'd do in July, and then he did it. If his confidence level is anywhere north of 'no chance,' we're taking it seriously.

Here's what should concern Kerr: the beer mile has humbled plenty of fast runners who assumed the running was the hard part.

An open invitation

Josh, the 12th annual Beer Mile World Classic is in Cologne, Germany, on September 18, 2026. The German Beer Mile Team is hosting, so the beer situation is handled. Bring the spikes. The speedsuit is optional, but we'd love to see it. It's the perfect season cap.