NEW YORK (AP) — Joey Chestnut downed 69 franks and devoured his own record in the men’s Fourth of July hot dog eating contest while Sonya Thomas defended her title in the women’s competition.
The San Jose, Calif., man known as Jaws ate one more wiener than his previous record to capture the mustard-yellow champion’s belt. He said afterward that he was motivated by the prestige, not the $10,000 prize money.
“I’d do this for nothing,” he said.
Thomas, a 100-pound dynamo known as the “Black Widow” of competitive eating, wolfed down nearly 37 wieners to narrowly eke out her own victory.
Chestnut, 29, is a seven-time winner who set the old record — 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes — in 2009 and tied it last year. Thomas, 45, powered through 45 dogs to take the women’s championship last year and also won in 2011, the first year women competed separately. Chestnut, who weighs 210 pounds, had said his pace was uneven in the past, but “this year I’m trying to eat a little more gracefully, conserve my energy.”