US man beats own hot dog eating world record
A US man has devoured 69 hot dogs,
beating his own world record at an
annual 4 July competition at Coney
Island in New York.
Joey "Jaws" Chestnut ate the sausages
with buns in 10 minutes, breaking his old
record of 68 and winning the world title
for the seventh year in a row.
In the women's contest, Sonya Thomas
kept her title with nearly 37 sausages.
The first such hot dog eating contest was
held in 1916, when the winner put away
only 13 frankfurters.
On Thursday, thousands of spectators
cheered on the competitors of the 97th
Nathan's Famous Fourth of July
International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Mr Chestnut's main rival, Matt
"Megatoad" Stonie, only managed 51 hot
dogs.
"I feel a little full," Mr Chestnut joked
after his victory. "I'm happy as heck.
Things couldn't have gone much better."
Meanwhile, Ms Thomas, known as "The
Black Widow", beat her closest
competitor by three-quarters of a
sausage. But she was not able to match
her feat of last year when she ate 45
sausages.
"It was very hot water, maybe too hot,"
she said.
The competition contest was broadcast
live on sports channel ESPN, and
featured much of the fanfare usually
reserved for professional sporting events
