Recap: A Record Margin in Austin as Salomone Wins His Third National Title
September 28, 2024 · By Council Staff
The 2024 National Pineapple Championship, held September 21 in Austin, was supposed to be Texas's best shot yet at unseating Michael Salomone on a stage he hadn't yet won on. Home favorite Priya Natarajan, the Southwest's top-ranked competitor for two straight seasons, had trained specifically for the matchup.
It wasn't close. Salomone finished in 0:44, more than five seconds ahead of Natarajan's second-place 0:50 — the largest margin of victory in the Championship's four-year history at that point. California's Jake Winslow, the only man to ever beat Salomone at Nationals, finished third.
'I came here to win, and I did,' Natarajan said afterward, 'but I'll be honest — watching that cut up close, I don't think margin is the right word. It's a different sport when he's cutting like that.' The win gave Salomone his third National Championship in four years, with the streak's only blemish still the six-tenths-of-a-second loss to Winslow back in 2022.
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