American Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut wolfed down 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes on Sunday to claim his fourth consecutive world title in one of the planet’s most bizarre sports — competitive eating.
Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is the Super Bowl of competitive eating and the belt, which comes along with a purse of 20,000 dollars, is considered the holy grail.
Chestnut, the 26-year-old reigning champion, left the rest of the competition trailing as he retained the coveted prize, a mustard-yellow prize-fighter’s belt, with room to spare.His face contorted in visible pain as he swallowed his 54th wiener shortly before time was up, giving him a final rate of 5.4 dogs per minute and putting him nine ahead of second-placed Tim Janus.
Before the event, Chestnut had suggested that he could break the 70-dog mark, which he described as the sport’s equivalent to the four-minute mile in athletics.