It was reported that five-foot tall Sonya Thomas gobbled down “nearly181” wings which weighed 2.2 kilograms (4.86 pounds).
One of the people she defeated was Joey Chestnut.
The Telegraph reported that Chestnut is America's leading professional eater, and was favoured to win Sunday's contest. He finished second, consuming 169 wings.
This was the first time the two competitive eating champions had faced off in eating the spicy chicken wings called Buffalo wings. Buffalo, New York, where the event was held, claims to be the birthplace of the wings.
"They pushed each other really hard,"
The Telegraph quoted Drew Cerza, founder of the festival, as saying. "Joey is so strong. He's got great jaw strength. But Sonya's so fast with the hand."
She said that chewing too much slows her down so she uses her hands more than her mouth.
“Joey has lots of fans in Buffalo, and he received many, many cheers, and rightfully so,” she said on
her web site. “I had to set a new Buffalo Wing-eating record to get by Joey. I'm savoring this victory, because finishing ahead of Joey in any food may never happen again. Before today it had been well over 2 years since I earned a victory over him.”
Thomas, who is 43, starting calling herself the Black Widow because she often defeats large male competitors. She set the previous wings record of 174 in 12 minutes, in 2005.
She won her first competitive eating event in 2003, and since then has set many records.
