July 4 (UPI) — Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo won the Fourth of July Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Saturday, held this year without a crowd.
Chestnut ate 75 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, setting a new world record during the event which aired on ESPN. It surpassed his previous record of 74 in 2018, and earned him his 13th career Mustard Yellow Belt. He came up short of his 2018 record last year, but still won.
Sudo set a new world record in the women’s division of the competition when she ate 48.5 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. She now has seven championship titles.
The annual contest is usually held on July 4 in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, N.Y., but due to the coronavirus pandemic it was held at a private location with no audience. The 10-minute contests, one for men and one for women, included five participants instead of the usual 15, to allow for social distancing. Other COVID-19 precautions included workers wearing masks and gloves and competitors being tested for the virus.
“Legend has it that on July 4, 1916, four immigrants gathered at the very first Nathan’s Famous hot dog stand in Coney Island and made eating contest history,” Nathan’s website says. “As the story goes, they were competing to see who was the most patriotic. How did they determine the winner? With a hot-dog eating contest, of course!”
