Daegan Goodman was quite humble about his achievement, saying, "I just wear 'em, sweat in 'em... I just try".
He walked away with a $500 (£270) voucher, as well as voucher for new trainers and shoe deodorants.
The yearly competition is held in Vermont, which calls itself the "Rotten Sneaker Capital of the World".
Daegan is now set to become a bit of a star with his "sneakers", as they are called in the US, and is expected to be a favourite on TV chat shows.
But sneaker judge George Aldrich used to do smell tests for Nasa, so his nose was well-trained for the job.
"The stench sometimes stays with me for days. It's like a flashback," he said.
Before making his final decision, George made the contestants do lots of army-style exercises to get them really sweaty.
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