The co-champions speak

Co-champions Jairam Hathwar, speller 152, and Nihar Janga, speller 232, are the third consecutive set of co-champions at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Nihar spelled "gesellschaft" correctly. Jairam spelled "Feldenkrais" correctly. After the confetti fell, the pair talked about their victory. "I'm just very proud of myself and the hard work paid off," Nihar said. "I felt nervous all the time." Nihar said he didn't pay attention to the cheering audience because he didn't want to be distracted. Instead, he said, he just focused on Dr. Bailly and his pronunciations. He likes spelling, he said, because it teaches him about food and culture. The words were harder than he thought they would be, he said. But he didn't mind how long the competition went. "To me, it wasn't long," Nihar said. "It doesn't matter how much time it takes." Nihar and Jairam both said they expected to drop out long before they did. In fact, they each got two words wrong during the head-to-head spelling, but got them wrong during the same round. Jairam, Nihar said, is one of his best spelling friends. He said he is happy to share the championship. Jairam said he was sad when he misspelled and thought the competition was over. "I didn't want to get out," he said. "I made it that far." Jairam's brother, 2014 co-champion Sriram Hathwar, was cheering him on from the audience. But Jairam said he tried not to be distracted. "I wasn't expecting this," he said. "I dreamed about winning this bee and it finally came true. It's just amazing." Though Jairam was eligible to compete for another year, he said he wanted to treat this year like it was his last because it's hard to get back to this level of competition. "It's just amazing," he said. "I can't even believe this is real."