Chinese man shockingly finishes marathon while chain-smoking throughout race

A 50-year-old Chinese man smoked his way through a marathon and managed to finish it in 3 hours and 28 minutes.

Uncle Chen, who hails from Guangzhou, finished 574th out of more than 1,500 runners. The marathon was held in Jiande, China, on November 6.

He became a mini-celebrity in China after videos of him smoking went viral on social media. He did not stop at one cigarette but kept on smoking one after the other throughout the run. He could be seen smoking in all of the pictures taken during the endurance event.

This was not the first time that Uncle Chen tried to attempt such a feat. He first rose to fame in 2017 after he was pictured smoking during a marathon in 2017. His antics have even earned him the nickname "smoking brother."

He had finished the 2018 Guangzhou Marathon as well as the 2019 Xiamen Marathon while smoking. He finished the former in 3 hours and 36 minutes and the latter in 3 hours and 32 minutes. He only smokes when he runs, according to the Hong Kong Standard.

While most of the social media users in China praised him for his efforts, others were left wondering if smoking during a marathon is a doping violation.

"There goes my hero. Watch him as he smokes," wrote one Instagram user, while another added: "Is this a doping violation?"

Others noted that his smoking may have a harmful effect on other runners. "Whoever runs beside him is unfortunate," commented a user on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

"Think what he could have achieved if he had never started smoking at all. He could possibly have been a World Champion breaking all records," wrote one Twitter user. "He lives in China, that cigarette is filtering the outside air," wrote another while joking about China's air quality.

The current rules do not prohibit marathon runners from smoking cigarettes while they compete.