海角大神

You don鈥檛 want to mess with Joey 鈥淛aws鈥� Chestnut or Sonya "the Black Widow鈥� Thomas.

Mr. Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., devoured 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes to break two records at the Nathan鈥檚 Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest Thursday.

His bested his previous record of 68 hot dogs in 2009 and won the contest for the unprecedented seventh time in a row.

Sonya Thomas, a slim, 100-pound manager of a fast-food restaurant in Alexandria, Va., battled frank-for-frank with Juliet Lee in the women鈥檚 competition. Ms. Thomas, known as "the Black Widow鈥� of competitive eating, downed 36-3/4 hot dogs to her competitor鈥檚 36 hot dogs. (Read more about Sonya, "the Black Widow," in a Monitor feature article here.)

Second-place finisher in the men鈥檚 competition was Matt Stonie, who ate 51 hot dogs.

Chestnut said after the competition that he鈥檚 motivated by the prestige, not the $10,000 prize money.聽

鈥樷�業'd do this for nothing,鈥欌�� he said.

Chestnut may have received a boost from his girlfriend, too, who stood in front of him and yelled at him to eat more, according to USA Today.聽

Thomas won $5,000 for the women鈥檚 competition and defended her titles from 2012 and '11. Last year, she set the women鈥檚 record by gobbling聽45 hot dogs.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more mental than physical,鈥� Thomas said, before the event this year. 鈥樷�業 have to fight with myself, so I'm going to try to really focus.鈥�

Chestnut鈥檚 goal for the day was to 鈥渆at a little more gracefully, conserve my energy.鈥欌��

The competition, hosted by Nathan鈥檚 Hot Dogs in Coney Island, N.Y., every Fourth of July since 1916, attracted a crowd of about 40,000 spectators. It鈥檚 broadcast live on ESPN and open to anyone at least 18 years old who wins a qualifying competition held in 12 cities across the country between March and June.

Ginger Perry of Obion County, Tenn., said she and her family planned their New York City vacation around the contest, after watching it on TV in past years and were impressed that Coney Island has recovered so well from being slammed by superstorm Sandy last October. 鈥樷�業t鈥檚 amazing to be here and that they rebuilt so quickly,鈥欌�� she said.聽

The hot dog contest took place despite concerns about a swaying, shuttered observation tower that spurred the closure of parts of the nearby amusement park. The shutdown didn鈥檛 affect Nathan's, but Coney Island鈥檚 famous Cyclone roller coaster and other rides were closed, and workers were using a crane to dismantle the tower.

Nathan鈥檚 Famous notes on the competition鈥檚 website that the event is overseen by 鈥淢ajor League Eating, the governing body of all stomach-centric sports [鈥�] and ensures the contests are judged professionally and that safety standards are in place at each event.鈥�

On its website, Major League Eating issues a warning that it 鈥渟trongly opposes and discourages home training of any kind. MLE also strongly discourages younger individuals from eating for speed or quantity under any circumstances. MLE urges all interested parties to become involved in sanctioned events 鈥� do not try speed eating聽[at] home.鈥�

The next Major League Eating contest is the World Slugburger Eating Championship in Corinth, Miss., on July 13. There, contestants will eat chow down on the hometown famous 鈥渟lugburgers鈥�: burgers made of beef and breading deep-fried to a golden brown. The winner will claim a $3,000 prize.聽

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.聽