Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest 2017 results: Joey Chestnut wins 10th title

Joey Chestnut proved once again that he’s the top competitive eater in the world by winning the 2017 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest while putting down an official 72 hot dogs over the course of 10 minutes, another personal best for him. Carmen Cincotti was at times within a few hot dogs of Chestnut, but he was unable to get the win, finishing with 62 hot dogs himself.

Matt Stonie, the 2015 champion, finished in third with 48.

At the 2:30 mark, Chestnut had put down 26 dogs, with Cincotti right behind him with 22 dogs. Halfway through, Chestnut was sitting at 46 dogs, Cincotti was at 38, and Stonie was at 31. Chestnut was averaging just about nine hot dogs per minute halfway through the competition.

Geoffrey Esper was gaining ground on Stonie by that point, and he was only one down on him with 3:30 to go. Chestnut’s speed dropped to just about eight dogs per minute at the seven-minute mark. Esper ended up finishing with 46 for fourth place.

Chestnut has been the most dominant eater in the world for a long time, but lost to Stonie in 2015. That year, Stonie consumed 62 hot dogs and Chestnut went back to the drawing board. Last year, Chestnut dominated and put down 17 more hot dogs than Stonie, setting the competition record with 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

Cincotti was a rookie in 2016, and put down 53 dogs in qualifying to punch his ticket this year.

Takeru Kobayashi isn’t the big name he used to be, as he hasn’t competed since 2009 due to a refusal to sign an exclusive deal with Major League Eating. Kobayashi and Chestnut had a rivalry going, but this year, all the talk was about Chestnut vs. Stonie.

On the women’s side, Miki Sudo put down 41 hot dogs to get her fourth consecutive victory.

Sudo has been the strongest performer in women’s competitive eating since unseating Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas in 2014, and of course, was the defending champion going into Tuesday’s competition.

The women’s competition was broken out into its own thing in 2011, and Thomas won the first three before being unseated by Sudo. The women’s record of 45 hot dogs in 10 minutes was set by Thomas in 2012. In 2016, Sudo won the competition with 38.5 dogs.

The 41 dogs from Sudo marks her personal best in the tournament. Michelle Lesco finished second with 32.5 hot dogs, while Thomas was third with 30 of them in the contest.