(New York) Champion eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut overcame a rain delay and gobbled down 62 sausages and buns in ten minutes, earning another win at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog contest.
Chestnut beat runner-up Geoffrey Esper and the rest of an international field of 15 competitive eaters to win his 16e title. Esper, from Oxford, Mass., managed to ingest 49 hot dogs and buns.
On the women’s side, defending champion Miki Sudo gobbled down 39 1/2 hot dogs and buns to clinch her ninth Mustard Belt. But before the men could compete, stormy weather hit Coney Island, New York, and delayed the competition by two hours.
“What an emotional roller coaster,” Mr Chestnut said after dodging the rain and wondering if the famous contest was going to take place. The 39-year-old from Westfield, Indiana, Chestnut captured his first Nathan title in 2015 and hasn’t lost it since.
His best result was in 2021, when he gobbled down 76 hot dogs.
Sudo beat Mayoi Ebihara’s 33 1/2 hot dogs in ten minutes on Tuesday, in a contest that looked much closer until the final count was announced. The unofficial real-time counter showed the two women tied for most of the competition. The final count of the plates made it possible to decide between the two women.
PHOTO YUKI IWAMURA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miki Sudo and Joey Chestnut
Mme Sudo, 37, was disappointed with her hot dog total, which was nine short of her all-time high. She said the competition from Ebihara, 27, had thrown her off balance.
“The first two minutes, I caught myself staring at her, which I never want to do. I never want to be distracted by the other competitors, explained Mme Sudo, of Port Richey, Fla., after the competition. Looking at her, I got tangled in my hands. I got stuck with a big burp at first, but I was able to fix it. »
The annual contest on the Coney Island boardwalk in New York has drawn competitors from England, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Brazil and Australia, according to ESPN.
Across the country, the Key Lime Pie Eating Championship in Key West, where the lime pie was born, was won by Joshua Mogle, a 38-year-old tire manufacturing manager from Altoona, IA. Iowa.
PHOTO ROB O’NEAL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Key Lime Pie Eating Championship in Key West was won by Joshua Mogle.
Mogle dove headfirst into a 10-inch pie covered in whipped cream during the challenge, the rules of which prohibit contestants from using their hands.
He consumed the confection in three minutes and 35 seconds, edging out 24 competitors at the climax of Key West’s five-day Key Lime Festival.