Bigman Weekend Pro 2022: Brett Wilkin secures qualification for the next Olympia

This year's racing season brought a lot of interesting competitions, which often included Czech and Slovak pros. However, the cards for the upcoming Mr. Olympia have already been dealt and the few races that will still take place during this year already allow qualification for the next edition of the prestigious competition held annually in Las Vegas. One of those competitions was the 2022 Bigman Weekend Pro held in Alicante, Spain. How did the two Czech pros who appeared in the prestigious Open category fare?

The starting list was literally bursting at the seams

Despite the fact that there were only two categories on Sunday's Bigman Weekend PRO 2022 programme, the men's open start list was literally bursting at the seams. And no wonder - the idea of being able to qualify straight to the next Olympia and stretch their off-season preparation was appealing to many of the athletes. Twenty-five heavyweights were among the pros, and although at one time it looked like the Czech duo of Milan Šádek and Honza Turek might succeed, many foreign media considered the favourites to be more well-prepared big names like Brett Wilkin, Theo Leguerrier or Andrea Presti. As for the bikini category, there were 10 well prepared competitors and among the hot favourites was Ivanna Escandar, who has already 5 professional victories to her credit.

The open category was dominated by the confident Brett Wilkin

As you probably understood from the title of the article, the winner of the open category is the confident Brett Wilkin, who is not qualified for this year's Olympia, but will have all the more time to improve his form for next year. And that we have a lot to look forward to - this brutally prepared American already looked incredible in Alicante. Only the aforementioned Theo Leguerrier or Andrea Presti could compete with him. It should be noted, however, that all of these riders were aiming their form at the Olympia, the most important, most prestigious and most financially rewarding race of the year. And this advantage played into the hands of the aforementioned Wilkin, who will definitely have a lot to work on in terms of muscle volume.

In terms of preparation, however, he had the edge over the other pros and undoubtedly earned his qualifying entry. If you watched the races live, you probably also watched Milan Šádek, who appeared in the first call-up, with enthusiasm. However, he was not able to make it into the Top 5 competitors. Honza Turek appeared only in the third call-up and it was clear that he would not appear in the top five either. The second place was taken by the gigantic Andrea Presti and the third place went to Theo Leguerrier, in accordance with the predictions and the race development. The final standings were as follows:

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Příspěvek sdílený Jonathan Moriau (@moriauphoto)

Bikini dominated by Ivanna Escandar

Spanish pro Ivanna Escandar was one of the athletes who made the jump to the Bigman Weekend Pro in preparation for the upcoming Olympia. She earned her qualification for this year's event by winning the packed Legion Sports Fest PRO in the US state of Nevada and it looks like after the prestigious competition in Vegas she will be able to take a long 11-month break from competing, work on her physique and who knows - maybe she will be one of the favourites for the 2023 Olympia.

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Příspěvek sdílený Jonathan Moriau (@moriauphoto)

Although it is already clear that the winners of both categories have been nominated for the next edition of Mr. Olympia, the fate of the other competitors is not yet fully decided. For now, the qualification system for the coming year has not been published. However, it can be expected that the athletes in second to fifth place will receive a certain number of points in the intermediate scoring, which will then result in a total of three additional qualified athletes.