Could Joey Chestnut beat Usain Bolt in a race if they both first ate a hot dog? Our staff debates.

Fans know that two of the most elite athletes in their respective sports are competitive eater Joey Chestnut and Usain Bolt.

While we will never see the two of them compete against each ther because it is like comparing apples and oranges (or hot dogs in this scenario), what if there was a way to combine their talents and see who actually is the Greatest of All Time?

This question is tearing friend groups apart via group chats: If Joey Chestnut and Usain Bolt ran the 100-meter dash, but they both had to eat a hot dog with a bun before they started running the race, which of them would emerge victorious? Would Chestnut’s speed eating a hot dog give him enough of an advantage?

We have also seen this debate on Reddit and on YouTube and it was even posted by Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Hunter Renfrow. Chestnut recently weighed in and shared his thoughts:

“I don’t want to say I can beat Usain Bolt … I mean I could do a hot dog in about two seconds. So if I can finish the hot dog in two seconds and it takes him 10 seconds, I should be able to run that 100 meter … It would be intense … I think I’d be able to finish it … It would be super intense … How fast can he finish that single hot dog?”

Bolt, who has had his own crazy diet, has run 100 meters in 9.58 seconds. But we don’t know if eating a hot dog first would take him a long time or slow him down considerably.

Similarly, while we have never seen Chestnut run a 100-meter dash, we know that he runs marathons and how fast he can eat a hot dog. (Hint: It’s faster than you can.)

So our staff weighed in and tried to figure out the correct answer to this absurd hypothetical, and to no surprise, we didn’t come to an agreement.