Legion Sports Fest PRO was finally dominated by the incredible Tonio Burton!

Although the bodybuilding season is quite long, the winter season is usually more interesting for fans because the imaginary peak of the whole season - Mr. Olympia- is approaching. In practice, this means that some competitors try to qualify at the last minute, others collect valuable points and some already qualified just want to compare their form with other competitors. It is therefore not surprising that the American Legion Sports Fest PRO was really something to watch - despite the fact that at the same time the Italian Tsunami Cup was also taking place, where Czech competitors Milan Šádek and Jan Turek also showed up.

The open start list alone promised intense competition

As far as the prestige of the competition is concerned, the Italian Tsunami Cup falls into the fourth category of the ranking, and therefore the competitors in the Top 5 will receive fewer points than the Legion Sports Fest, which falls into the third category. Well, on the start list of the royal Open category it was really seeming. Among the oft-inflected hopefuls for the win, we have to mention the nearly two-meter giant Jamie Christian-Johal, who took bronze at the French Yamamoto Cup a week ago. However, we must not forget Justin Rodriguez, who although not yet qualified for the Olympia directly, but indirectly through the points he has earned so far he is 3rd and every success is now extremely important for him. Then Tonio Burton was surely going to surprise as well, who after sharing a video with his current form on Instagram literally stunned many a bodybuilding fan and was a hot candidate for the top spot.

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A post shared by Tonio “the predator” Burton (@tonio_the_predator_burton)

However, Legion Sports Fest PRO did not promise only the open category

Don't be fooled - Legion Sports Fest PRO was definitely not meant to be just about the open category. After all, only 16 professionals out of 120 attendees were in this top category. Besides the royal open category, there were 6 other categories - classic physique, men's physique, women's physique, fitness, bikini and wellness. The winner of each of these categories would be nominated directly for Mr. Olympia, while the competitors in the next places would be rewarded with points for the intermediate classification - the second place competitors would receive 6 points, the third 5, the fourth 4 and the fifth 3. So how did it all turn out?

The open category was dominated by Tonio Burton

When the competitors in the royal open category lined up for the Legion Sports Fest PRO, it was more or less clear that the experts' pre-race estimates were correct. Johal, Rodriguez and Burton, who showed incredible form, all earned their place among the top competitors. They were then joined by Rasheed Oldacre, who it was clear was going to improve quite substantially. At the last Orlando Pro about three months ago, he was ranked 7th. However, it must be added that he showed great form without a single major weakness and therefore he certainly deserved the improvement. The top five was then rounded off by Stan de Longeaux, who competed in the Men's physique category back in 2018 and has since gained a good amount of mass, which he was able to bring in addition in very solid form.

The way the competitors were lined up at the first call-up already made the final order more or less clear, which was more or less confirmed in the end. Fifth place went to Jamie Christian Johal, with Stan de Longeaux in fourth and Rasheed Oldacre taking bronze. So it was clear that the Legion Sports Fest Pro was going to be a battle between the incredibly prepared Tonio Burton and Justin Rodriguez. Both of these fighters posed side by side several times and in the end the better of this straight fight was the well prepared Tonio Burton, who especially in the back poses looked absolutely incredible, showed great preparedness and since he had no major weaknesses there was nothing to address.

So the order of the top 6 competitors was as follows:

1. Tonio Burton
2. Justin Rodriguez
3. Rasheed Oldacre
4. Stan de Longeaux
5. Jamie Christian-Johal
6. Kenneth Jackson

How did it go in the remaining categories?

Even though the open category is usually the most interesting one, it doesn't mean that there is nothing to see in the remaining six categories. On the contrary, the fights were often quite interesting and evenly matched:

Men's Physique

Apart from the open category, the under 212lb category is generally quite watched, but it did not appear at all at this competition. Therefore, it was replaced by the Men's Physique category, which brought a really interesting spectacle. However, since the already Olympia nominated Kyron Holden was on the stage and showed excellent form, this category was more of a competition for second place and the necessary points for the qualification system.

The overall ranking of the top 6 men's physique competitors looked like this:

1. Kyron Holden
2. Wilfred Harris
3. Reuben Glass
4. Franky Yan
5. Frank Worley
6. Thomas Bakke

Classic Physique

The classic physique category, where the competitors show quadriceps unlike men's physique, brought a coveted victory for Jeff Hallenbeck, who has been incredibly active this season and was only two points short of one of the positions that would secure him an additional qualification for Mr. Olympia. However, given how well prepared he appeared at these races, he won't need any more points as he has qualified directly for the prestigious competition in Las Vegas.

The overall standings of the top 6 classic physique competitors ended up looking like this:

1. Jeff Hallenbeck
2. Bryant Carlton Smith
3. Phong Nguyen
4. Zack Romano
5. Eric Wildberger Lisboa
6. Jore Tabet Aleixandre

Bikini

The bikini category offered a very large starting field, which did not bring any major surprises. Jourdanne Lee dominated quite clearly from the beginning to the end. This American competitor once again showed phenomenal form and even though she qualified for this year's Mr. Olympia last year after winning the Hurricane Pro, she showed that she is not ashamed of her form now. So let's see what she brings to Mr. Olympia.

The complete order of the top 6 female competitors was as follows:

1. Jourdanne Lee
2. Lawna Dunbar
3. Liliana Sakhanova
4. Alessia Facchin
5. Kaylin Long
6. Victoria Gasior

Women's Fitness

Women's fitness has long been quite clearly dominated by American athletes - of the 17 athletes qualified for Mr. Olympia on September 30th, 8 are from the USA - two others still occupy the top three positions for additional qualification. And after the Legion Sports Fest PRO, they were joined by American racer Danielle Chikeles.

The complete order of the first five female competitors looked like this:

1. Danielle Chikeles
2. Anna Chism
3. Kamara Graham
4. Rene Brosch
5. Carolina Frausto

Women's Physique

The much more muscular women's physique category brought a fairly packed field, but the best performer was Evon Pennington, who most fans last saw at the Strength Tampa Pro 2021, where she finished seventh - the entire competition was won by Lenka Ferenchuk. But since then Evon has gained quite a bit of quality mass and these races were undoubtedly her race.

The ranking of the top 6 competitors was as follows:

1. Evon Pennington
2. Sara Bradley
3. Diana Schnaidt
4. Gessica Campbell
5. Susan Graham
6. Tanya Chartrand

Wellness

The wellness category was quite a packed field, with 14 competitors. However, Amanda Burnett did the best and thus secured direct qualification for Mr. Olympia - she had only 7 points in the intermediate scoring as of 30 September and would probably not have qualified for indirect qualification.

The order of the top 6 competitors was as follows:

1. Amanda Burnett
2. Judian Winston
3. Leticia Allen
4. Frida Paulsen Stern
5. Maria Paulette Aranguren
6. Emily Azzarello

Well, that's it for this busy week. But don't despair, at the end of October we will have a Prague bodybuilding festival in the form of EVLS Prague PRO, from which we will of course be happy to bring you a report.