So You Think You Ate a Lot on the Fourth

For the fifth straight year, it was a victory Takeru Kobayashi could relish.

Kobayashi, 27, captured the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest on Coney Island, gobbling 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes -- but missing his own world record of 53 1/2 hot dogs, set at last year’s Fourth of July competition. Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, weighs 144 pounds.

The runner-up was Sonya Thomas of Alexandria, Va., who ate 37 hot dogs.