Joey Chestnut wins record 16th Nathan's hot dog eating contest after weather delay

July 4 (UPI) -- Competitive eating phenom Joey Chestnut continued his winning tradition on Tuesday, celebrating the Fourth of July by winning Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island for the 16th time.

Weather put Tuesday's annual eating contest in Brooklyn, N.Y., on hold for about two hours. When it came time to compete, Chestnut threw back 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes, outpacing his closest competitor Geoffrey Esper who finished 49.

Miki Sudo won the women's competition for the ninth time in a row, eating 39.5 hot dogs. The women's competition took place before the weather delay. She set the women's record in 2020 with 48.5 hot dogs eaten.

Chestnut's 16 times hoisting the Mustard Belt is a record and Tuesday's win was his eighth straight win at this event. Matt Stonie broke Chestnut's previous eight-year winning streak in 2015 when he ate 62 hot dogs, two more than Chestnut. He did not compete on Tuesday.

Many of the men's records at the Nathan's hot dog eating contest belong to Chestnut, ESPN reports. His 76 hot dogs eaten in 2021 stands as the highest total in a single contest. Each of the 10 biggest performances belong to him.

"I know that after this time I'm not going to feel great," he said. "It's going to take about four days to feel really normal, and the first 12 hours after the contest I'm going to feel like garbage. I go in knowing that and I'm willing to go through that because it's an amazing contest, it's the Fourth of July, and I'm going to do what it takes to get number 16."

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