St. Elmo's owner Craig Huse, left, awards Major League Eater, and contest winner Joey Chestnut, right, the championship belt during the sixth annual World Famous St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship, held during the Meijer Tailgate Party on Georgia St. in Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Joey Chestnut Sets World Reccord During World Famous St Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship
Syndication: Indianapolis
(New York, NY) — While baseball is the sport of the summer, on the 4th of July every eye in America turns to one man and one competition.
Joey Chestnut is the most dominant participant in the history of the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. With 15 wins in 16 years including a current streak of seven, Chestnut has become famous for his ability to down dogs.
‘Jaws’ has broken his own world record five times since first setting it in 2007. Most recently he consumed 76 hot dogs (7.6 per minute) in 2021. This is just one of his 55 competitive eating world records.
The engineer from California is the favorite to defend his crown in 2023 at -3000. Geoffrey Esper is the next closest competitor at +1400.
“The goal is to win, but if the dogs are good, the weather is right, I feel like that record of 76 could definitely go down,” Chestnut said with a smile across his face.
The 39-year-old was only able to consume 63 in last year’s event, far short of his personal best, but under pristine practice conditions claims that he ate over 80 in preparation for this year.
On the women’s side, 8x winner and world record holder Miki Sudo is the overwhelming betting favorite at -4000.
Chestnut and Sudo will look to defend their titles starting at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow live from Coney Island.
