Yasir Salem is an American triathlete,

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

enthusiast, cyclist, and

competitive eater Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions c ...

. He is currently ranked number 11 in

Major League Eating Major League Eating (MLE) is an organization that organises professional competitive eating events and television specials. The stated mission of Major League Eating is to maintain a safe environment for all events, to create a dynamic and enjoya ...

’s list of competitive eaters. Salem is the

Tour de Donut The Tour de Donut is an annual bicycle race held in Staunton, Illinois, and Troy, Ohio. In this unique bike event, riders' times are reduced by five minutes for each doughnut they consume during two pit stops in the nearby towns. History The Tou ...

and the Donut Derby champion. He is also the former National Sweet Corn Eating champion and world record-holder (47 ears of corn in 12 minutes), and has competed in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest five times. Salem frequently appears in the media to discuss his competitions and activities in outlets such as Runner's World magazine,

Bicycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, Physical exercise, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bike ...

magazine, Triathlete magazine, Men's Health magazine, Men's Fitness magazine,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Muscle & Fitness ''Muscle & Fitness'' is an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine founded in 1935 by Canadian entrepreneur Joe Weider. It was originally published under the title ''Your Physique'', before being renamed to ''Muscle Builder'' in 1954, and acq ...

, Women's Health,

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, Bloomberg,

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Biography

Salem was born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. He is of Egyptian, Turkish and Armenian ancestry. He attended Clear Lake High School in Houston, Texas, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, as well as an MBA at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Salem’s first Major League Eating win was at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier in Concord, North Carolina in 2012. His first Major League Eating title came in September 2013, when he ate 31.75 cannoli at Little Italy’s Feast of San Gennaro Cannoli Eating Championship. Salem’s first Tour de Donut championship was the Tour de Donut Ohio in 2014.

Tour de Donut and Donut Derby

Tour de Donut

Salem has competed in several

road races across America. Each city’s annual bicycle race has cyclists race for 30 miles to earn the lowest times by eating donuts at two pit stops along the track. For each donut consumed, riders’ times are reduced by five minutes. Rather than award the first cyclist to cross the finish line, the champion with the lowest "donut-adjusted time" is named the winner of the race. Salem eats 12 donuts at a time during the races. Cities and years competed: * Ohio: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 * Utah: 2014, 2015 * Illinois: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 * Austin: 2016, 2017

Donut Derby

Salem competed in Pennsylvania’s Donut Derby bicycle race in 2015, 2016 and 2017, achieving his best "donut style" bicycle race by eating 61 donuts over 36 miles for a donut-adjusted time of -31 minutes.

Competitive eating

Salem’s entry into the competitive eating scene started as something of a joke. "I was watching the Nathan’s contest in 2008, and I thought, ‘Wow, all I have to do is eat a bunch of hot dogs and I can be on ESPN?’" he told Mental Floss. He trains by eating a 4 to 6 pounds salad every day for lunch followed by a gallon of water. He credits enlisting the help of a hypnotherapist as a key turning point in his success as a competitive eater.

Triathlete, runner, and cyclist

Salem ran and completed his first marathon in the

2010 New York City Marathon The 2010 New York City Marathon was the 41st running of the annual marathon race in New York City, United States, which took place on Sunday, November 7. Sponsored by ING Group, the competition was the fifth World Marathon Major of 2010 and an IAA ...

. By June 2017, he had completed 20. He competed in his first New York City Triathlon in 2012, having only learned to swim that same year. He then competed in his first

Ironman Iron Man, Ironman or Ironmen may refer to: *Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery (1939–1985), American caddie for Arnold Palmer *Travis Fulton (1977–2021), American mixed martial arts fighter *Gunnar Graps (1951–2004), Estonian musician *Mick Murphy ...

in 2013, and would complete four total by 2015. Salem owns 3 bicycles, and is known to use a Quintana Roo PR6 Ultegra Di2 with Reynolds Strike wheels for triathlons. He has stated his intent to run one marathon each month in 2017, and is currently training for the 2018 Race Across the West and the 2019 Race Across America ultra-endurance bicycle races, which are 900 and 3,000 miles, respectively.

Championships and world records held

2013

* Cannoli: 31.75 cannoli / 6 minutes (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, September 13, 2013) at Feast of San Gennaro World Cannoli Eating Championship

2014

* Donut Dash 5K champion: Donut-adjusted time of 3 minutes, 15 seconds / 22 donuts (

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, June 28, 2014) * Tour de Donut Ohio ‘Double D’ champion: Donut-adjusted time of -32 minutes, 45 seconds / 48 donuts (

Arcanum, Ohio Arcanum ( ) is a village in Darke County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,457 at the 2020 census. History Arcanum was laid out in 1849. The Greenville and Miami railroad arrived to Arcanum in 1852, connecting it to Dayton and much of t ...

, September 6, 2014) * Utah Tour de Donut Donut King: Donut-adjusted time of -27 minutes / 40 donuts ( American Fork, Utah, September 27, 2014)

2015

* Tour de Donut Illinois champion: Donut-adjusted time of -1 hour, 36 minutes, 40 seconds / 50 donuts (

Staunton, Illinois Staunton is the second largest city in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 5,054. History Name origins A man named Stanton bought land in the area, and then decided to move on and gave the land to ...

, July 11, 2015) * Tour de Donut Ohio ‘Double D’ champion: Donut-adjusted time of 71 minutes, 51 seconds / 44 donuts (

, September 12, 2015) * Donut Derby champion: Donut-adjusted time of -35 minutes, 6 seconds / 54 donuts (

Breinigsville, Pennsylvania Breinigsville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,495. The town is part of Upper Macungie Township and is located approximately southwe ...

, September 7, 2015) * Utah Tour de Donut Donut King: Donut-adjusted time of -14 minutes, 6 seconds / 36 donuts ( American Fork, Utah, September 19, 2015)

2016

Corn on the cob Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked :wikt:ear#earofcorn, ear of sweet corn (maize) eaten directly off the corncob, cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the caryopsis, kernels are still tender. E ...

world record: 47 corn / 12 minutes (West Palm Beach, Florida, April 24, 2016) at National Sweet Corn Eating Championship * Tour de Donut Illinois champion: Donut-adjusted time of -30 minutes, 41 seconds / 39 donuts (

, July 9, 2016) * Tour de Donut Ohio champion: Donut-adjusted time of -33 minutes, 15 seconds / 36 donuts (

, September 10, 2016) * Donut Derby champion: Donut-adjusted time of -9 minutes, 3 seconds / 55 donuts (

, September 5, 2016) * Tour de Donut Austin champion: Donut-adjusted time of -1 hour, 19 minutes / 31 donuts (

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, November 13, 2016)

2017

* Tour de Donut Illinois donut king: Donut-adjusted time of -8 minutes, 46 seconds / 40 donuts (

, July 8, 2017) * Donut Derby champion: Donut-adjusted time of -31 minutes / 61 donuts (

, September 4, 2017) * Tour de Donut Ohio champion: Donut-adjusted time of -50 minutes, 37 seconds / 44 donuts ( Troy, Ohio, September 16, 2017) * Tour de Donut Austin champion: Donut-adjusted time of -1 hour, 45 minutes / 37 donuts (

, November 12, 2017)

Personal life

Salem resides in New York City and his two cats. His wife, Gweneviere Mann, a non-smoker, passed away on July 22, 2018 from lung cancer. She was 47. He currently serves as Director, Group Marketing at Hearst for ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

,'' ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

, Car and Driver, and Road &Track''. Salem’s hobbies include growing and eating his own supply of organic fruits, vegetables, microgreens, and sprouts in his NYC home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salem, Yasir University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Houston American competitive eaters Rutgers University alumni