NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) — Record-holder Joey Chestnut won his 15th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Monday, though he came short of his all-time record sent last year.
Chestnut ate 63 franks and buns in 10 minutes, shy of the 76 he downed in the same time period in 2021.
The 38-year-old champ still ate 20 more dogs than runner-up Geoffrey Esper.
“I feel like I should have eaten more hot dogs,” Chestnut said after the competition, apologizing to the crowd. “They were really pushing me. They wanted to see me make a run at the record,” he said.
Chestnut was briefly interrupted by a protester who rushed the stage with a sign and bumped into him. Chestnut put the man in a headlock before tossing him aside and continuing the competition.
Chestnut competed in a medical boot because of a tendon injury, three days after arriving at the Major League Eating weigh-in using crutches.
“It hurts, but I was in the zone for a little bit. I was ignoring it,” Chestnut said of the injury after claiming first place. He said it was “beautiful to be back here.”
In a decisive chowdown comeback, record-holder Miki Sudo won the women’s title after skipping last year’s frank fest because she was pregnant.
“I knew I was excited to come back, but the feeling that you get once you’re actually here is not like anything else,” Sudo said on ESPN after downing 40 wieners and buns in 10 minutes. That was short of her 2020 record, but still well ahead of runner-up Michelle Lesco, the 2021 winner.
Monday marked a return not just for Sudo but for the contest itself, which was back at its traditional location outside Nathan’s flagship shop at Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island. The event was relocated in 2020 and last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sudo, of Tampa, Florida, set the women’s record at 48 1/2 wieners and buns in 2020, before taking last year off while expecting. She and Nick Wehry — a fellow competitive eater whom she met through the Nathan’s contest in 2018 — welcomed son Max on July 8, 2021.
From dad’s arms, the baby watched his 36-year-old mother notch her eighth Nathan’s win. She told ESPN afterward that she hoped he would someday take a message away from it.
“I want to set an example,” she said, “to do things that you love and push yourself to your absolute limits and, when things get difficult, to still give it a try. And, you know, you might actually just come out victorious.”
In conjunction with the spectacle, Nathan’s donates 100,000 franks to the Food Bank for New York City.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related
Related
Related
