There are great athletes, and then there are the GOATs. How lucky we are to bear witness to some of these titans of their respective craft — we saw Tom Brady dominate for years, while Leo Messi is still scoring goals as of yesterday.
However, Joey Chestnut might be the greatest of them all at his particular craft. The competitive eater just won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 18th time, further adding to one of the most impressive records of his illustrious career. How many hot dogs did the GOAT eat in this year’s edition of the event?
Chestnut entered the annual Independence Day contest as a massive -2500 favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook to win, with the over/under on hot dogs consumed set at 70.5.
The all-time great started out with an incredible first half of the 10-minute clock. At the halfway point, Chestnut had downed 42 hot dogs for a pace of over 8.3 per minute — which put him on pace to break his previous world record. However, his pace slowed exponentially down the stretch as the heat in Coney Island began to take a toll. By the time the full clock finished on Saturday afternoon, he put down a grand total of 66 hot dogs, blowing every other competitor out of the water as per usual.
In the end, Chestnut did fail to best his career-high mark of 76 hot dogs, which set an event and world record back in 2021. While he also came up a few short of the 70.5 line set on DraftKings Sportsbook, the legendary eater’s effort was still a dominant one compared one of the remainder of the field this year. Chestnut’s 66 hot dogs were 14 more than the second-place finisher.
More importantly, Chestnut’s day still marked one of most impressive performances we’ve seen in competitive sports recently and allowed him to add yet another belt to his trophy case. Having claimed his 18th career win at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, the American hero and his iron gut put yet another accolade on his resume as the greatest to ever do it.
