California Pro 2020 - Antoine Vaillant takes the win!

If this season of Jim Manion's IFBB Professional League had gone as originally planned, you would have just read about who the new king of professional bodybuilding is! The 56th annual Mr. Olympia contest was just yesterday.

However, since the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has been constricting the world since the beginning of this year, a number of competitions have had to be either cancelled or rescheduled, both in date and venue.

Although this year's Olympia Weekend was moved to December, there was still competition in Las Vegas last night! This year's California Pro!

Given the fact that the California Pro 2020 was held the week after the New York Pro 2020, one would expect to see a number of fighters who had just competed in New York. And so they did.
Hassan Mostafa, Max Charles, Patrick Moore, and Antoine Vaillant, the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th men of the New York Pro 2020, were all on stage side by side.

Already the semi-final comparisons showed that the pair of Max Charles and Antoine Vaillant were battling for the win in front of the judges! Max not only offered very good form, but also massive upper body musculature.

Antoine was the complete opposite of what he offered last week in New York. He looked much more confident, and with good reason. He was noticeably fuller, and much more symmetrical than his opponent. He also had more powerful quadriceps.

The Canadian Antoine Vaillant finally achieved the success of his life by becoming the winner of this competition! He secured his first participation in the most prestigious bodybuilding competition in the world Mr. Olympia!

The fighter, who turned professional in 2012, when he dominated the Canadian Championships, made only his fifth start among the elite.
He made his debut at the 2013 New York Pro, where he finished 14th, but fared even worse at the subsequent Toronto Pro Supershow, where he finished in a tie for 16th place.
A black period followed, during which he struggled with drug addiction, and it wasn't until 2018 that he returned to the competition stage. That was when he competed at the 2018 Toronto Pro Supershow, where he achieved his best result of his life so far, finishing in 4th place.
His fourth start was at the aforementioned New York Pro 2020, where he finished 7th.

After his triumph, Antoine said:

A huge thank you to my coach Dorian Hamilton for helping me to this victory. I couldn't have done it all without him. In my opinion, the best coach.
In one week we went from 7th place to 1st. All I did was listen to what he told me and gave 100%. I was the machine, he was the brain behind everything I did.
I also took constructive criticism from Tyler Manion (IFBB Professional League head judge and grandson of Jim Manion, IFBB Professional League president, editor's note) and focused on that.
I also got advice from Flex Wheeler, who helped me with posing two days ago.
Special thanks to them for that as well!

Zobrazit příspěvek na Instagramu

Huge special thanks to my coach @dorian_hamilton for helping me getting this win. I would have not been able to do all this without him. Best coach IMO. We went from 7th place to 1st in one week, all I did is listen to what he told me to do and give my 100% into it. I was just being a machine, he was the brain behind everything that I did. We took the constructive criticism of @t_manion, applied it and got @officialflexwheeler to help me with my posing 2 days ago. Special thanks to them also! Thanks to @bpakfitness for the help and hooking me up! . Thank you mom I love you, thanks to @__ryderdie__ for the support and understanding, I miss you! ❤️ (it was actually her idea for me to do these earlier shows lol) . . I love @jujimufu he's my friend. Thanks to my homies from Montreal @khaledoft1 @salimsatir . Thanks @hd.muscle family for all the support, @racheldavisfit @_noah_balboah @mariahdontcarey____ @cody_amey , thanks to MY blood family for the support also, I love you all! Good fucking job @big.3.media and @mariahdontcarey____ for banging out all the sick content btw! . . Thanks to @musclecontest, @ifbb_pro_league and.... ALL MY SUPPORTERS ACROSS THE WORLD!!!! OG's and NEW G's!!! Thanks to @ryderwear and @ironbullstrength fucking great companies I'm proud to be with! . . So what now?? LET'S GO TO THE OLYMPIA!!!!!! . . . Probably missed some people but I'm filled with all these feelings it's hard to think lol

Příspěvek sdílený IFBB PRO Antoine Vaillant (@antoinev87), Zář 12, 2020 v 3:58 PDT

Disappointed again was Max Charles, who took second place. Although he is much more powerful than his rival and has more muscle density and maturity, he loses a lot in terms of symmetry!
Still, we should see him at this year's Olympia, as he currently leads the qualification rankings.

Third place was earned from the judges by An Ngyuen, who offered not only an excellent physique but also round and full muscles here. Once again, he showed that he is at the peak of his professional career right now.

Fourth place was earned by Patrick Moore for his performance. Although he was defending last year's triumph here, he once again fell far short of the expectations that were placed on him as a very pleasant discovery at last year's Olympia.
Although he worked on the massiveness of his physique, it was not enough this time. Moreover, he was too flat in his back poses without details.

Eddie Bracamontes rounded out the top 5, moving higher and higher throughout the semifinals. The fighter with plenty of muscle mass left behind the trio of Mohamed Shaaban, Joe Seeman and Hassan Mostafa, who looked a bit better in the eyes of the judges at the beginning of the semifinal fights.

Results:

1. Antoine Vaillant - qualified for Mr. Olympia 2020
2. Max Charles
3. An Nguyen
4. Patrick Moore
5. Eddie Bracamontes
6. Mohamed Shaaban
7. Joe Seeman
8. Hassan Mostafa

9. Dorian Haywood
10. Stanislas DeLongeaux
11. Ronald Gordon
12. Errol Moore
13. Camilo Diaz
14. Jossue Plascencia
15. Bola Ojex
16. Maurice Burgess

1st place - Antoine Vaillant

2nd place - Max Charles

3rd place - An Nguyen

4th place - Patrick Moore

5th place - Eddie Bracamontes

Other competitors

Source:
www.ifbbpro.com
www.npcnewsonline.com
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