The Beer Mile World Classic is the official world championship of the beer mile, the sport that combines a one-mile run with four 12-ounce beers, one before each of the four laps. The 12th annual edition was held on September 18, 2026, at TuS Koln rrh. 1874 in Cologne, Germany, and it drew what organizers called the fastest women’s field in the event’s history. As of this writing, beermile.com had not yet posted the official results from Cologne, so this piece focuses on the confirmed history of the event, who has actually won it, and how the sport ended up with a world championship in the first place. We will update with the 2026 results once they are officially posted.
How the Sport Actually Got Standardized
Informal versions of the beer mile had circulated in running circles for years, but the event did not get an official rulebook until 1993, when John Markell wrote what are still called the Kingston Rules at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Those rules are still what every sanctioned beer mile is raced under today: four 12-ounce beers of at least 5 percent ABV, one before each quarter-mile lap, with a penalty lap for any vomiting.
The record-keeping side came later. In 1996, Patrick Butler created the sport’s first informal record repository, and in 1998 he acquired the beermile.com domain and turned it into the sport’s official results database. That site is still the place every sanctioned beer mile time, from a local track meet to a world record, gets logged and verified.
How the World Classic Started
In 2015, Nick MacFalls and John Markell launched the Beer Mile World Classic as the sport’s official world championship. Unlike almost every other world championship in sports, the World Classic has no permanent home. It moves to a new host city somewhere in the world every year, which is how it has ended up in San Francisco, London twice, Vancouver, Berlin, Manchester, Leuven, Chicago, Windsor, Lisbon, and now Cologne.
Every World Classic Champion, 2015 Through 2025
Here is the confirmed winner in the men’s and women’s championship race at every edition of the World Classic held so far, per beermile.com’s official records:
- 2015, San Francisco, United States, Men: Lewis Kent (5:07). Women: Caitlin Judd Batten (6:48).
- 2016, London, United Kingdom, Men: Corey Bellemore, in his World Classic debut (4:34). Women: Erin O’Mara (6:43).
- 2017, London, England, Men: Chris Robertson (4:52). Women: Byrony Pearce (7:32).
- 2018, Vancouver, Canada, Men: Corey Bellemore (4:36).
- 2019, Berlin, Germany, Men: Corey Bellemore (4:36). Women: Allison Grace Morgan (6:24).
- 2020, held remotely, Men: Chris Robertson (4:38). Women: Allison Grace Morgan (6:16).
- 2021, Manchester, England, Men: Corey Bellemore, his 3rd world title and the first man under 4:30, with a world record of 4:28 (4:28). Women: Allison Grace Morgan, her 3rd straight title (6:32).
- 2022, Leuven, Belgium, Men: Corey Bellemore, defending his title in a new world record of 4:49 using cans (4:49). Women: Melanie Pozdol, upsetting the deepest women’s field assembled to that point (6:41).
- 2023, Chicago, United States, Men: Corey Bellemore (4:30.8). Women: Elizabeth Laseter (6:03.75).
- 2024, Windsor, Ontario, Men: Corey Bellemore, in his hometown (4:30.47). Women: Elizabeth Laseter (6:06.35).
- 2025, Lisbon, Portugal, Men: Corey Bellemore, lowering his own world record to 4:27.10, his 7th world title. Women: Elizabeth Laseter, setting a new championship record of 5:56.90.
Corey Bellemore has now won the men’s championship in every World Classic he has entered going back to 2016, and he holds the current world record at 4:27.10. Elizabeth Laseter has won three straight women’s titles heading into Cologne, and Allison Grace Morgan’s three-peat from 2019 through 2021 is the only comparable run on the women’s side.
What Was on the Line in Cologne
The 2026 preview from beermile.com described this year’s women’s field as the fastest ever assembled, with world record holder Shelby Houlihan (5:43) and three-time defending champion Elizabeth Laseter (5:56) as the only two women in history to break six minutes, plus 2022 champion Melanie Pozdol chasing the same barrier. On the men’s side, Corey Bellemore returned chasing an eighth world title and a new world record, facing a deep field led by Sweden’s Emil Granqvist and Markus Liwing. The team competition was also expected to be close, with Canada defending its 2025 upset win over the Americans and Swedes.
Team USA celebrates after a Beer Mile World Classic team title. (Beer Mile Media)
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Sources
- Beermile.com, official World Classic results, records, and history pages, accessed September 20, 2026
- Beermile.com, “The 12th Annual Beer Mile World Classic Set for Cologne, Germany,” race preview, September 2026
