Joey Chesnut, Miki Sudo win again at Nathan’s hot dog eating contest

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The U.S. celebrated another birthday Tuesday by gathering in Coney Island to test how many hot dogs a human being can consume in under 10 minutes.

World champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who’s won all but one contest since 2006, battled apocalyptic weather in defending his Mustard Belt, gulping a staggering 62 hot dogs after speculation the contest would be called off.

Longtime hot dog-eating women’s champ Miki Sudo reigned supreme once again, devouring 39 and a half dogs in under 10 minutes.

The undefeated nine-time champ Sudo, 37, was her own harshest critic, lamenting she couldn’t eat as many hot dogs as in 2021, when she last competed. Her record is 48.5 hot dogs.

“Thirty-nine is a lower number, though, I’m sorry guys,” the native New Yorker said upon her victory.

Nathan’s women’s championship was established in 2011 to recognize the growing number of female competitors, seven years after Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas became the first woman to eat more than 30 hot dogs and buns.

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The men’s contest, slated to start at noon, was delayed by more than two hours due to heavy rain and lightning strikes, with spectators fleeing for shelter under awnings and umbrellas soon after Sudo’s win.

The 225-pound Chestnut last year ate 63 hot dogs and buns, shy of the world-record 76 he chowed down in 2021. He also holds records for eating 148 hard-boiled eggs, nearly 13 pounds of deep-fried asparagus and a whole turkey in under 10 minutes.

On the eve of the contest, Chestnut told CNN he was on a liquid diet of lemon juice, water and a little protein.

“I’m not gonna go in empty and loose tomorrow. It’s Fourth of July, I’ll be happy and I’ll be hungry,” Chestnut said, attributing his extraordinary appetite to growing up in a big family.

Nathan’s first recorded contest was in 1972. Rumors the competition began unofficially more than a century ago when Ida and Nathan Handwerker opened the iconic eatery on Surf Ave. have been debunked.

In a 2010 interview with the New York Times, veteran media consultant Morty Matz admitted promoters invented the legend.

“We said this was an annual tradition since 1916. In Coney Island pitchman style, we made it up,” he said.

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