Kobayashi loses hot dog title

[Tokyograph News]

At this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York, six-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi was finally relieved of his title by American phenom Joey Chestnut.

Chestnut broke the world record by eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Kobayashi kept up until the final seconds, but he ended up vomiting, leading to a penalty that left him with a count of only 63 hot dogs. Kobayashi set the record last year at the same contest with 53 1/3, but Chestnut shattered it last month with 59 1/3 at a different competition.

After Chestnut's performance last month, there was speculation that Kobayashi would skip this year's contest, especially after reports that he was suffering from a sore jaw and recently had a wisdom tooth extracted. But he proceeded to come close to defending his title, and he has reportedly promised to return next year.

Chestnut is only the second non-Japanese person to win the annual contest since 1997.

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