Tucson’s Michelle Lesco Wins Second Place Women’s Title at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

Tucson resident Michelle Lesco began her Independence Day morning by eating 32-and-a-half hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.

It’s tradition at this point. Last year, Lesco ate 27 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

This year’s performance earned Lesco second place for the women’s title at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest behind her training buddy and four-time winner Miki Sudo, who ate 41 hot dogs.

“I feel great,” Lesco said. “Trained hard, mostly thanks to my charity water fundraiser hitting over $1,000 and making me do 10 practices over the last couple weeks. So the hard work paid off. Hit just shy of my goal, but second place is nothing to scoff at.”

The competitive eating isn’t limited to July for Lesco — for more information on her eating adventures, read our full feature on her, Meet ‘Cardboard Shell’ Michelle Lesco, World-Class Competitive Eater.

Keep up with Cardboard Shell on Facebook.