This 12 months’s Pittsburgh Professional felt like one other acceptable preview of the Olympia.
By now, many within the bodybuilding group perceive the annual Pittsburgh Professional to be greater than a significant qualifying occasion on the Worldwide Federation of Bodybuilding and Health (IFBB) Professional League calendar. Lately, a few of the hottest Mr. Olympia contenders within the Males’s Open division have appeared on the annual Might contest to visitor pose and provide a preview of their training progress in anticipation of the flagship Olympia later that fall. The 2023 iteration was no different.
On Might 12-13, 2023, whereas champions like Michael Daboul (Traditional Physique) had been topped throughout the official Pittsburgh Professional, Derek Lunsford, Nick Walker, Samson Dauda, Mamdouh “Huge Ramy” Elssbiay, Hunter Labrada, and Shaun Clarida all guest-posed throughout the contest. The one notable absence, particularly within the present Males’s Open pantheon, was defending Mr. Olympia champion Hadi Choopan. With nothing formally on the road for the slate of elite rivals, these six males nonetheless appeared on stage to tease how their sterling physiques are coming alongside for the 2023 Mr. Olympia in Orlando, FL, this early November.
Amongst the visitor posers on the 2023 Pittsburgh Professional, Lunsford might be the presumed biggest contender to Choopan’s title. Lunsford is within the midst of coaching to enhance upon a runner-up end in his first-ever look within the Males’s Open division on the 2022 Mr. Olympia. Considered one of Lunsford’s major rivals, Nick Walker, believes the previous 212 champion (2021) should be favored to win the 2023 Mr. Olympia. Bodybuilding legend Ronnie Coleman has additionally expressed his religion in Lunsford, anointing him as one of many subsequent massive issues within the sport after a recent collaborative training session.
Walker’s religion in Lunsford is notable, given his standing as one among bodybuilding’s high fashionable stars. Walker finished in third place at the 2022 Mr. Olympia and adopted that up with a runner-up outcome on the 2023 Arnold Traditional (AC). If anybody lastly appears poised to interrupt by from this area, it might be Walker.
In the meantime, the 2023 AC victor, Samson Dauda, has began to obtain hype as a professional Olympia titan. Icons like Jay Cutler have expressed that Dauda may very well be one among bodybuilding’s subsequent massive stars. It’s a label of excessive expectations that Dauda has not taken lightly. There’s additionally Elssbiay, who’s coming off a disappointing sixth-place outcome on the 2022 Mr. Olympia after vying for a historic three-peat. The previous two-time defending Olympia champion (2021, 2022) had beforehand skipped guest-posing on the 2022 Pittsburgh Professional and now gave the impression to be attempting to construct momentum towards one other Olympia victory this November.
Labrada is in an identical place to Elssbiay, although he doesn’t have the resume of previous Olympia victories to lean on. The athlete has expressed profound disappointment in his 2022 Olympia performance and vowed to have a more streamlined physique in 2023 in hopes of an enormous rebound.
To spherical out this guest-posing group, Clarida, a two-time 212 champion (2020, 2022), won’t be competing within the Males’s Open division on the 2023 Olympia. The athlete needs to finally break James “Flex” Lewis’s file of seven 212 Olympia titles (2012-2018) and will exclusively focus his efforts on that mission moving forward.
Discerning the exact favorites for the 2023 Mr. Olympia would seemingly be not possible off one guest-posing look. Nonetheless, a few of the high contenders for the tentpole contest made it some extent to seem in Pittsburgh and showcase what they may carry to the desk in November.
With that, one of many unofficial first important steps en path to this 12 months’s Olympia is now within the rearview mirror.
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