Patrick Bertoletti wins Nathan’s hot dog eating contest while the champion is away

NEW YORK (AP) — Chicago’s Patrick Bertoletti devoured 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, taking advantage of the absence of the event’s biggest star.

Bertoletti won in a tight 10-minute race that saw the leader bounce back and forth. Bertoletti, 39, defeated 13 competitors from around the world in a test to see who can eat the most hot dogs in 10 minutes.

“I wouldn’t stop eating until the job was done,” Bertoletti said.

Bertoletti bettered his previous record of 55 hot dogs at the event, held every Independence Day on New York’s Coney Island.

The reigning men’s champion, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, was not at this year’s competition. sponsorship tf. Instead, Chestnut will battle soldiers at a U.S. Army base in El Paso later in the day. Chestnut won 16 of the 17 previous competitions.

Bertoletti said he had lost weight and practiced “urgently” for three months in preparation for Thursday’s event, thinking he had a good chance of winning.

“With Joey not being there, I knew I had a chance,” he said. “I was able to unlock something that I don’t know where it came from. But I’m not complaining.”

Earlier Thursday, defending champion Miki Sudo of Florida won her 10th title in the women’s division.

Sudo consumed 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes – setting a new world record for women.

“I’m happy to call this mine for another year,” said Sudo after winning her 10th pink belt.

The 38-year-old dental hygiene student won last year after downing 39 1/2 hot dogs.

Sudo defeated 13 competitors, including 28-year-old rival Mayoi Ebihara from Japan. Ebihara came in second after eating 37 hot dogs in 10 minutes. She was also second in 2023. Sudo also consumed more than her partner, former Florida bodybuilder Nicholas Wehry, who ate 46 hot dogs among the men.

Bertoletti’s win marks the first time since 2015 that the famed mustard belt has gone to someone other than Chestnut.

Thousands of fans, some wearing foam hot dog hats, flock every year to the event, held outside the original Nathan’s location on Brooklyn’s Coney Island, a beachside destination with amusement parks and a carnivalesque summer culture. Rich Shea, CEO of Major League Eating, which organizes the event, noted that people still came out in droves even though Chestnut wasn’t there.

“Just a great competitor, a great guy, a grown man, and a man who made the choice not to be here today,” he said of the popular eating champion on ESPN. “But luckily for us, tens of thousands of people are crowding around Nathan’s Famous. It is a pilgrimage every year. This is not a paid Hollywood audience. This is excitement.”

Contestants came from more than a dozen states and five continents, with candidates from Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic competing for the coveted title and $10,000 in prize money.

Last year Chestnut, from Indiana, chewed his way to the title by taking down 62 dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The record, which he set in 2021, is 76.

Chestnut was initially not invited of the event through a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a company that specializes in plant-based meat substitutes and which advertised on ESPN during Thursday’s event.

Major League Eating has since said it has rescinded the ban, but Chestnut decided to spend the holiday with the troops anyway.

Chestnut said he would not return to the Coney Island match without an apology.

The event at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, starting at 5:00 PM ET, will feature traditional francs as Chestnut attempts to defeat four soldiers in five minutes.

Although he won’t be eating their vegan products, Impossible Foods is promoting Chestnut’s YouTube livestream of the exhibit by flying planes with banners over Los Angeles and Miami. The company will also donate to an organization that supports military families, based on the number of hot dogs eaten during the event, a spokesperson said.

Haigh reported from Norwich, Connecticut.