Hot dog champ sets hamburger record

, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The longtime champion of Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest, Japan's Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi, has set a new world hamburger-eating record.

The 24-year-old, 130-pound Kobayash consumed 69 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes during the weekend to win the inaugural Krystal Square Off World Hamburger-Eating Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"69 Krystals in eight minutes is astounding," David Baer of the International Federation of Competitive Eating told Chattanoogan.com. "Kobayashi is, without a doubt, the greatest eater ever to live upon planet Earth."

Billed as the Krystal Square Off, 14 of the world's greatest competitive eaters gathered at the 8-minute Saturday event hosted by The Krystal Co. to vie for $17,500 in cash prizes, the largest cash purse offered on the U.S. competitive circuit.

"I feel great. I could eat more -- about 20 or 30 more," Kobayash told the Chattanooga Times Free Press after the event. "Three-fourths of this is mental, your brain has to tell you go to on."

Kobayash won the first-ever title of Krystal Square Off World Hamburger-Eating Champion, the Krystal World Champion's Belt, the champion's crystal trophy and $10,000 in cash.