Joey Chestnut won the Nathan Sausage Eating Contest

Chestnut, who arrived at the annual event Monday on crutches with his lower right leg in a cast, dropped 63 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. That was 13 less than record 76 He crushed last year, but more than enough for the 38-year-old to beat his closest challenger, Jeffrey Esper, who finished the race with 47. Miki Sudou won her eighth women’s title earlier today.

“It hurts when I walk, but I can stand up and I can eat, and I’m going to push it to the limit,” Chestnut, who recently injured a tendon in his leg while running, told ESPN before the competition.

Chestnut opened an 11-hot dog lead three minutes into Monday’s event and moved on to his seventh consecutive title since being pestered by Matt Stoney in 2015. He wasn’t bothered by someone wearing a Darth Vader mask making his way to the front. The stage and raised a banner next to him in the middle of the competition. Put the intruded chestnuts short throttle Before turning his attention back to the sausage on the table in front of him.

As ESPN helpfully noted, Chestnut has now won one mustard yellow championship belt (15) more than Rafael Nadal has won French Open titles. Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi won the following famous hot dog titles at Nathan’s with six consecutive titles from 2001 to 2006.

The Independence Day scene, which began in 1916, is back at Nathan’s prime location in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood for the first time since 2019. In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the pageant was held in a private venue and without spectators. Last year’s event was held at the Brooklyn Cyclones Stadium for the Minor League with a limited attendance.

“We’re back! We’re back!” Major League eating announcer George Shea shouted before the competition began in front of a large crowd at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues.

“It’s nice to be back here in front of this crowd,” Chestnut said after winning his 15th sausage-eating title in the last 16 years. “New York is wonderful and there is no place like it in the world.”

Sudou, who missed last year’s event due to her pregnancy, won her eighth title by eating 40 hot dogs and a bun. Michele Lescu, who won the 2021 title, finished second. Sudou holds the women’s record for devouring 48 sausages in 2020, when she took her seventh straight title.

“I knew I was excited to be back, but the feeling you get once you’re already here is unlike anything else,” Sudou said on ESPN.

Sudou, 36, met her husband, fellow competitive eater Nick Wehrey, at the 2018 hot dog eating competition. Wery bore the couple’s son, Max, who will complete on Friday, while Sudou reclaimed her title on Monday. Wehrey later competed in the men’s division.