Top-ranked competitive eaters from around the world, including America, England, Czechia, and Australia, will be certified for competition at the Official Weigh-In Ceremony on Friday for the 2026 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at the Public Square and Gardens next to The Vessel at Hudson Yards.
Joey Chestnut holds the men's world record of 76 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Miki Sudo holds the women's record of 51 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns, and will be weighed in, as will past men's champion Patrick Bertoletti, who consumed 58 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in 2024
This is the first hot dog-eating contest since Nathan's Famous, which opened as a 5-cent hot dog stand in Coney Island more than a century ago, was sold to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods in an all-cash $450 million deal in January.
Smithfield said then that the event, which has been televised on ESPN at Coney Island each year, would continue.
Chestnut is expected to dominate the men's competition. Last year he downed 70 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. He holds the world record of eating 76 hot dogs.
Last year's second-place winner was Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago, who gobbled up 46 1/2 hot dogs and buns, falling short of the 58 he ate to earn the 2024 men's title.
Defending champion in the women's division, Miki Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won her 11th title last year, downing 33 dogs. She holds the women's record of 51 in 10 minutes.
Contestants this year hail from 18 states and several countries.
HOW TO WATCH
If you can't make it to Coney Island, ESPN will be airing and streaming the competition. Coverage of the women's competition begins at 10:45 a.m. ET on ESPN+/ESPN App where the contest will be re-aired during the men's competition.
The men's competition airs at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN2, and will re-air on the same channel at 4 p.m. ET. ABC will simulcast coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET for 30 minutes.
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Some information from the Associated Press