Matt Stonie dethroned as top dog

Matt Stonie, left, couldn't keep up with Joey Chestnut, right, the eventual champion.

JOEY CHESTNUT regained his crown by eating 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes. His closest rival, Matt Stonie, last year's champion, ate 53. The number of franks that Chestnut downed was the most ever in the annual competition.

By winning, Chestnut made it nine championships in the famous hot dog competition. His string of victories broken only last year when Stonie beat Chestnut by two weiners.

Competitive eating is treated as a sport by onlookers and competitors. ESPN, the sports network, covered the event held at Nathan's original restaurant at Coney Island, N.Y.

“I worked on my capacity, grew a little beard, and came back and won,” Chestnut told the Wall Street Journal.

Miki Sudo, of Las Vegas, took home first place in the women’s competition by gulping down  38.5 hot dogs, four more than Sonya Thomas of Washington D.C. for the third straight year.

I'm not sure what this means but I'll throw it out there anyway: With the top two finishers women finisher along with Stonie;  three of the country's top four competitive eaters are Asian/American.

RELATED: Frankly speaking - Asian Americans are top dogs in eating

Stonie said there were “no excuses” for his loss. He said Chestnut did an amazing job. Both are from San Jose, California.

"We're friends, sometimes we carpool (to an event)] together. I like the idea of giving Joey absolute hell in a competition, then going out five hours later and having a few beers with him," Stonie says. 

###

For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.