Miki Sudo sets hot-dog eating record for women, Patrick Bertoletti wins men’s : NPR

NEW YORK (AP) — Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago wolfed down 58 sizzling canines to win his first males’s title Thursday on the annual Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July sizzling canine consuming contest and profiting from the occasion’s greatest star could be chowing down 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) away.

Bertoletti received in a decent, 10-minute race the place the chief bounced backwards and forwards. The 39-year-old Bertoletti defeated 13 opponents from around the globe in a take a look at to see who can wolf down probably the most sizzling canines in 10 minutes.

“I wasn’t going to cease consuming till the job was carried out,” Bertoletti mentioned.

Patrick Bertoletti stuffs sizzling canines into his mouth through the males’s division in Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July sizzling canine consuming contest, Thursday, at Coney Island within the Brooklyn borough of New York. Bertoletti ate 58 sizzling canines.

Julia Nikhinson/AP

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Julia Nikhinson/AP

Bertoletti bested his prior document of 55 sizzling canines on the occasion, held each Independence Day on New York’s Coney Island.

The reigning males’s champion, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, did not attend the competitors this 12 months over a sponsorship tiff. As a substitute, Chestnut will compete towards troopers at a U.S. Military base in El Paso later within the day. Chestnut received 16 out of 17 earlier competitions.

Bertoletti mentioned he misplaced weight and practiced for 3 months with “an urgency” to organize for Thursday’s occasion, considering he had a superb probability of successful.

“With Joey not right here, I knew I had a shot,” he mentioned. “I used to be capable of unlock one thing that I do not know the place it got here from. However I am not complaining.”

Earlier Thursday, defending champion Miki Sudo of Florida received her tenth title within the girls’s division.

Sudo consumed 51 sizzling canines in 10 minutes — and set a brand new world document for ladies.

Miki Sudo competes within the Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July sizzling canine consuming contest, Thursday, at Coney Island within the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sudo ate a document 51 sizzling canines.

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Julia Nikhinson/AP

“I am simply joyful to name this mine for one more 12 months,” Sudo mentioned after successful her tenth pink belt.

The 38-year-old dental hygiene pupil received final 12 months after forcing down 39 1/2 sizzling canines.

Sudo defeated 13 opponents, together with 28-year-old rival Mayoi Ebihara of Japan. Ebihara got here in second after consuming 37 sizzling canines in 10 minutes. She was additionally the runner-up in 2023. Sudo additionally consumed greater than her companion, former Florida bodybuilder Nicholas Wehry, who ate 46 sizzling canines within the males’s competitors.

Bertoletti’s victory marks the primary time the famed mustard belt has gone to somebody moreover Chestnut since 2015.

1000’s of followers, some carrying foam sizzling canine hats, flock annually to the occasion held outdoors the unique Nathan’s location in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, a beachfront vacation spot with amusement parks and a carnivalesque summer time tradition. Wealthy Shea, CEO of Main League Consuming, which organizes the occasion, famous how individuals nonetheless got here out in droves although Chestnut was not there.

“Only a nice competitor, an important man, a grown man, and a person who’s made a alternative to not be right here at the moment,” he mentioned of the favored consuming champ on ESPN. “However thankfully for us, tens of hundreds of persons are crowding round Nathan’s Well-known. It is a pilgrimage yearly. This isn’t a paid Hollywood crowd. That is pleasure.”

Opponents got here from over a dozen states and 5 continents, with prospects from Brazil, Japan, the UK, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic vying for the coveted title and $10,000 prize cash.

Final 12 months Chestnut, of Indiana, chewed his technique to the title by downing 62 canines and buns in 10 minutes. The document, which he set in 2021, is 76.

Chestnut was initially disinvited from the occasion over a sponsorship cope with Inconceivable Meals, an organization that focuses on plant-based meat substitutes and which marketed on ESPN all through the occasion on Thursday.

Main League Consuming has since mentioned it walked again the ban, however Chestnut determined to spend the vacation with the troops anyway.

Chestnut mentioned he would not return to the Coney Island contest with out an apology.

The occasion on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET, will use conventional franks, with Chestnut making an attempt to out-eat 4 troopers in 5 minutes.

Regardless that he will not be consuming their vegan merchandise, Inconceivable Meals is selling Chestnut’s YouTube livestream of the exhibition by flying airplanes with banners over Los Angeles and Miami. The corporate may also donate to a company supporting navy households based mostly on the variety of sizzling canines eaten on the occasion, a spokesperson mentioned.