With the NASCAR season concluding last Sunday, there will be no more Nathan’s qualifiers at stock car races in 2014. Here are the highest Nathan’s totals for competitors in calendar year 2014:

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Official Top 3 (Full results – July 8)
1) Joey Chestnut 61 8th victory in a row, proposed to Neslie Ricasa before contest
2) Matt Stonie 56
3) Tim Janus 44
4T) Brian Dudzinski 34
4T) Erik Denmark 34
6) Juan Rodriguez 32
7) Adrian Morgan 29
8) Marcos Owens 26
9) Badlands Booker 25
10) Yasir Salem 19.75
11) Aaron Osthoff 19.5
12) Pablo Martinez 17
13) Ronnie Hartman, 14
14T) Sean Gordon, 10
14T) Sgt. Horacio Chanyau, 10
16) Colin Shirlow 3

Jeff Butler missed the contest due to a cancelled flight

Post contest coverage

• ESPN.com article
• Daily Beast contest report
• Brooklyn Paper article and gallery
• Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun Times calls MLE eaters “professional bulimics” and claims he witness much backstage vomiting when he attended a Nathan’s finals
• Guardian.com article
• Video of Sport Science segment about competitive eating seen during Nathan’s broadcast
• Village Voice gallery and animated GIF of Joey Chestnut eating 61 hot dogs
• Bleacher Report claims Matt Stonie is “ushering in a new era of competitive eating”
• Broadway World gallery
• Seacoast Online article about Matt Stonie
• Juan Rodriguez gallery – 32 hot dogs
• Aaron Osthoff article – 20 hot dogs
• Pablo Martinez article – 17 hot dogs
• Ronnie Hartman article – no total
• Crazy Legs Conti poem based on “The Night Before Christmas”

The men’s Nathan’s contest will be live at noon eastern on ESPNews and ESPN3.com. It will be rerun on ESPN2 at 2pm eastern. If the France / Germany World Cup game goes to overtime / penalty kicks, it will cut into that program. The contest will also be rerun at 6pm eastern today and July 5 and 6.

Matt Stonie has defeated Joey Chestnut in two of their last three matchups. He has also posted a training session video where he ate 66 hot dogs; if he can replicate that today, he could threatens Joey Chestnut’s Nathan’s streak.

Pre contest coverage

• Joey Chestnut
  The Atlantic asks if Joey Chestnut is the most dominant athlete of all time
  Joey Chestnut gives a minute by minute contest report to the Hollywood Reporter
  Appearance on Vice.com’s “Fat Jew Show” about Joey Chestnut’s bathroom experiences
  Esquire.com graphic about 27,6000 calories in 69 hot dogs
• Matt Stonie
  SeaCoastOnline of New Hampshire calls Matt Stonie a local
• The Daily Mail calls Matt Stonie “The World’s Youngest Competitive Eater”
• Erik Denmark
  Appearance on the Jason Smith show
• Colin Shirlow
  Dubbelin.com article about addition to finals field

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Results Official top 3
Larell Marie has the top 6 (Full Results – July 8)
1) Miki Sudo 34 – ends 11 year streak for Sonya as top Coney Island woman
2) Sonya Thomas 27.75 – lowest July 4 total since 2003 debut
3) Michelle Lesco 27
4) Juliet Lee 23.5
5) Meredith Boxberger 18
6) Larell Marie 14
7) Carlene LeFevre 11
8) Neslie Ricasa 10
9) Mary Bowers, 9
10) Marlene Wigginton, 8.5
11) Nicole Pulig, 7.5
12) Nicole Rodriguez, 7

13) Val Bromann 3

Post Contest Coverage

• Asahi.com calls Miki Sudo a Japanese woman.
• USA Today report on women’s contest

Sonya Thomas offers congratulations to Miki Sudo on her web page.

• Cardboard Shell has a facebook gallery
• Broadway World gallery

A brief recap of the Sonya Thomas vs. Miki Sudo rivalry:

• From her IFOCE / MLE debut in June 2013 to April 2013, Sonya thomas maintained a winning streak against other female competiitve eaters for 118 months.
• After success in local Las Vegas eating contests and challenges, Miki Sudo debuted in Major League Eating at the 2013 Las Vegas qualifier. Her total of 40 hot dogs was the best ever for a Nathan’s debut in a 10 minute contest (and best overall since Kobayashi’s first USA contest in 2001)
• About a week before the 2013 Nathan’s finals, it is announced Miki Sudo will not compete. A Las Vegas Weekly interview from last month has more on her withdrawal.
• With Miki Sudo not competing in the 2013 women’s Nathan’s finals, Sonya Thomas wins the female competition for the third year in a row (and maintains an 11 year streak where she is the top performing woman on July 4).
• In subsequent contests, Miki Sudo would have success against Sonya Thomas, starting a winning streak which is currently at 8 competitions.
• In December 2013, Miki Sudo (#4) would be ranked ahead of Sonya Thomas (#5), ending a decade where she was the top woman in the IFOCE/MLE rankings
• Last month, Miki Sudo qualified for the Nathan’s finals. Her total of 40 hot dogs matched her amount from last year and made her the only woman to hit 40+ in the past 23 months. She is currently in New York City and will try to surpass that amount.
• According to MJP, Miki Sudo has gone from being an +120 underdog to a -150 favorite in online sports casinos.

Contest coverage roundup

• General
  Val Bromann, who is also competing in the contest, has a contest preview
  USA Today says the women’s contest might have the best drama
• Sonya Thomas
  WSJ.com video
  Bloomberg.com video
  Fiscal Times article
  Washington.CBSLocal.com article
• Miki Sudo
  Mental Floss article
  Agence France Press article claims Miki Sudo could dominate. (Miki claims a 10 contest streak vs. Sonya; it appears to be actually 8)
• Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco
  Interview with Womens Health Mag
  WGN TV interview
• Mary Bowers
  Dana Point Times article

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A list of head to head results over the past year for the favorites in the two Nathan’s contests: Joey Chestnut & Matt Stonie and Sonya Thomas and Miki Sudo follows. Bovada is listing Joey Chestnut as a 1/12 favorite and Matt Stonie as a 9/1 underdog; they are not taking bets on the women’s contest. (via oddshark)
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Here is the field for the 2014 Nathan’s final and their qualifying victories sorted by amount. update Official field: men’s | women’s – Colin Shirlow of Northern Ireland is receiving a bye
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update Winners Results: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
1) Brian Dudzinksi 29.5
2) Jeff Butler 29, takes wild card lead
3) Jim Reeves 22
4T) Crazy Legs Conti 20
4T) Brian Subich 20
6) Scott Thomas 18
7) Matt Bonnano 16
8) Bill Myers 14
9) Jacob Halicek 12
10) Tim Cain 10

1W) Nikki Rodriguez 10 – Neslie Ricasa takes wild card
2W) Molly N 5.5
update Brian Dudzinski might have won the men’s contest

Bob  Shoudt predicts he will eat 37 hot dogs in the first 8 minutes.

This might be the first qualfier where two unranked women hit 10+ if Nikki Rodriguez and Molly Nemunaitis compete.

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The July 4 schedule for ESPNews shows that the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest will be shown live on that channel starting at noon. Only the men’s contest will be televised; ESPNews will show SportsCenter at 11:30. There will be three tape-delayed showings of the contest on ESPN2 on July 4, 5 and 6 and ESPN Classic will show 6 contests from previous years on July 4. The main ESPN channel has no listings of the 2014 Nathan’s contest, this would make it the first year since 2003 it was not televised on that channel.

A listing of MLE programming on ESPN networks follows:

• 2003 The contest was reportedly supposed to be televised in 2003, but was not broadcast. Issues with celebrity competitor William “Refrigerator” Perry have been cited for the cancellation.
• 2004 Nathan’s finals (926,000 viewers)
• 2005 Nathan’s finals (860,000 viewers)
  US Open of Competitive Eating 3 prime time showings July 28, 29, 30 (Alka Seltzer planned to bring the US Open back in 2006, but its owner Bayer terminated the event)
  Cheap Seats – commentary on 2004 Nathan’s finals
• 2006 Cheap Seats – commentary on US Open of Competitive Eating
  Nathan’s finals (1,460,000 viewers)
  Sheboygan Bratwurst contest (pre-empted by NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony)
  Krystal Square Off finals (ESPN2)
• 2007 Nathan’s finals (1,632,000 viewers)
  Krystal Square Off finals
• 2008 “Feast on the First” live eating contest on Mike & Mike
  Nathan’s finals
  E:60 (reporter roundtable) Brad Sciullo stars in this segment, and is ejected from MLE soon after
• 2009 Nathan’s finals (1,340,000 viewers)
• 2010 Pat Bertoletti competes against Philadelphia Eagle Brent Celek on First Take
  Nathan’s finals (1,677,000 viewers)
• 2011 Nathan’s finals (1,949,000 viewers)
• 2012 Nathan’s finals – tape delayed (1,299,000 viewers)
• 2013 Nathan’s finals – live on ESPN2 / tape delayed on ESPN (1,146,000 viewers)
• 2014 Pizza eating contest on Mike & Mike
  Nathan’s finals – live on ESPNews / tape delayed on ESPN2

(Nathan’s finals viewer numbers from this post)

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With one qualifier left, here is the current field for the 2014 Nathan’s finals. Bob Shoudt is not listed as an entrant in Sunday’s qualifier in Cleveland, which would end an eight year streak of competing in the finals. Pete Davekos’ 6 year finals streak also appears to be coming to a close.

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update Jun 26 Juan Rodriguez has some pictures

Women
1) Miki Sudo 40 hot dogs.
2W) Neslie Ricasa 12, takes women’s wild card lead

Men’s results
1) Juan Rodriguez 26
2) Steve Hendry 22, moves to men’s wild card lead

Rodriguez’ victory leaves the current wild card standing for men

Here are the all time bests for Nathan’s qualifiers in California:

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update June 26 Mix104.1 has an interview with female winner Nicole Pulig

update June 23 Boston.com has a gallery with the totals for the top 3 men.

update June 22 The Boston Herald has an article, video and gallery
MyFoxBoston has a video

update Results

1) Matt Stonie 53, personal best, 10 minute qualifier record, New England record
2) David Wood

1W) Nicole Pulig 7.5
2W) Mia Davekos 6

CBSLocal has a an article

Matt Stonie thinks a Nathan’s qualifier record might be possible today. Here are the 45+ qualifier results:

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