Well there really is a first for everything. Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong took a substance that actually harmed his athletic performance.

Attempting to qualify for the Beer Mile World Championships, the American emphatically failed.

The race consists of competitors downing a beer every 400 metres for a mile, but Armstrong quit after the first lap and claimed the event was “tougher than I expected.”

Armstrong has a life ban from cycling after being found to have taken performance-enhancing drugs during his time at the pinnacle of the sport. He has previously completed the New York marathon twice but the inclusion of beer proved to be a substance too far.

So the seven-time Tour De France winner (all of which were subsequently stripped from him) might need to move onto another sport if the Beer Mile wasn’t quite to his taste.

Not often does an athletic event combine speed and alcohol consumption but The Beer Mile has hugely developed since starting out as a common college pastime.

The Flotrack Beer Mile World Championships take place in Austin, Texas next month and the current world record for the mile is 4:57, set earlier this year by James Nielsen.

You can watch the video of Lance Armstrong's failure over at Sports Illustrated.