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It wasn’t exactly Willis Reed limping on the court before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals and inspiring his New York Knicks to win the championship, but a Joey “Jaws” Chestnut overcame adversity Monday by get his 15th record title on the track. Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Food Contest.
Chestnut, who arrived at Monday’s annual event with crutches with his right leg on a plaster, shot down 63 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. That was 13 less than the record 76 he crushed last year, but more than enough for the 38-year-old to hold on to his nearest competition, Geoffrey Esper, who finished with 47½. Miki Sudo won her eighth women’s title before that day.
“It hurts when I walk, but I can stop and I can eat, and I’ll do it to the limit,” said Chestnut, who recently injured a tendon in his leg while running, on ESPN before the contest.
Chestnut opened up an 11 hot dogs lead three minutes after Monday’s event and reached his seventh consecutive title since Matt Stonie bothered him in 2015. A person with a Darth Vader mask who advanced towards the front of the stage did not bother him. and unfurled a sign beside him halfway through the contest. Chestnut put the intruder on a brief prey before turning his attention back to the hot dogs on the table in front of him.
As ESPN usefully pointed out, Chestnut has now won a mustard yellow championship belt (15) more than Rafael Nadal has won French Open titles. Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi has won the next Nathan’s Famous hot food title with six in a row from 2001 to 2006.
The Independence Day show, which began in 1916, returned to Nathan’s flagship location in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood for the first time since 2019. In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the contest was organized in a private place and without spectators. Last year’s event was held at the local Brooklyn Cyclones minor league stadium with limited attendance.
“We’re back! We’re back!” Major League Eating announcer George Shea called before the contest began in front of a large crowd at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenue.
“It’s nice to be back here in front of this audience,” Chestnut said after winning his 15th hot food title in 16 years. “New York is amazing and there’s no place like this in the world.”
Sudo, who missed last year’s event because she was pregnant, won her eighth women’s title by eating 40 hot dogs and buns. Michelle Lesco, who won the 2021 title, finished second. Sudo holds the women’s record with 48½ hot dogs devoured in 2020, when she won her seventh consecutive title.
“I knew I was excited to be back, but the feeling you get once you’re here isn’t like anything else,” Sudo told ESPN.
Sudo, 36, met her husband, a competitive food partner Nick Wehry, at the 2018 Hot Dog Food Contest. Wehry kept the couple’s son, Max, who will be a year old on Friday, while Sudo he regained his title on Monday. Wehry later competed in the men’s division.
Miki Sudo is seven times Nathan’s hot dog food champion.
Nick Wehry is the fourth most competitive dining room in the world.
Meet the married couple who continue to break competitive food records. pic.twitter.com/zuYS0ny8qp
– SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 4, 2022