Bertoletti, Sudo Win Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Absent Longtime Champ

Bertoletti, Sudo Win Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Absent Longtime Champ
Patrick Bertoletti (C) reacts after winning the men's division in Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York on July 4, 2024. Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo
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NEW YORK—Patrick Bertoletti gobbled up 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. In the women’s competition, defending champion Miki Sudo won her 10th title and set a new world record by downing 51 links.

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, the reigning men’s champion and winner of 16 out of 17 previous competitions, didn’t attend this year over a sponsorship tiff. Instead he competed later in the day against four soldiers at a U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas, where he wolfed down 57 hot dogs in five minutes.