Michal Križánek is heading to Olympia again! He won the Empro Classic 2023 | Results, reportage and photos

Although the bodybuilding season is already in full swing, we had to wait until this weekend for the first competition on the old continent. Today, however, the first IFBB Jim Manion Professional League contest of the year took place in Alicante, Spain, and it promised to be a first-class spectacle. A number of European athletes were going to take part, but a number of big names from other continents had also promised to take part. And they will be led by Michal Križánek, who, as a participant in last year's Olympia, will try to win his nomination again. Let's take a look at the pre-match predictions and the race itself.

Predictions and start list

The starting list for the open category consisted of 11 fighters, including matadors as well as a number of unknown and new names. For example, the Spanish rider Jose Manuel Munoz Quiles, who is only twenty-one years old, will be a newcomer. However, competing against him, at least in terms of age, will be Emir Omegaric from Germany, who is only 3 years older. On the other hand, the more experienced competitors will be represented by Michal Križánek, the Slovakian giant, who certainly needs no introduction to any bodybuilding fan. However, Andre Presti or Wellington Fernando from Brazil, who has already claimed second place this year at the Arnold Classic Brazil, may deprive him of the championship that some experts had predicted. However, Croatian giant Petar Klancir or another German pro Roman Fritz would no doubt also like to enter the medal fight. You can see the full list of competitors competing at this year's Empro Classic in the open category below:

• Michal Krizanek
• Wellington Fernando
• Petar Klančir
• Roman Fritz
• Emir Omegaric
• Krystian Wolski
• Joan Pradells
• Andrea Presti
• Vincente Santamaría
• Jorge Zamorano
• Jose Manuel Munoz Quiles

In addition, according to the initial information, the winner of the Amateur Division could have joined them - but this did not happen and, in addition, the aforementioned Vincence Santamaría did not enter for reasons not yet known.

How did the race go?

Due to the modification of the qualification system for Mr.Olympia, ten well-prepared competitors had to compete to see who would be the only one to qualify for the popular competition and who would leave with nothing. Well, better to say with at most 3 thousand dollars, which belonged to the second place. And it must be said that even the slim starting field offered an interesting spectacle.

At first glance, it was not at all obvious from the presentations of the individual competitors that anyone had any significant advantage over the others - not even Michal Križánek. Until the semi-final it was impossible to predict who the judges would favour. As expected, the first semi-final then opened with Križo and Andrea Presti in the middle of the line, the only two athletes who had any Olympia experience. As predicted, they were also joined in the first callout by Fritz, Klancir and Fernando. Surprisingly enough, the aforementioned Quiles, the youngest participant in the starting field, also hit the first callout.

In the second callout, Fritz, Klančir and this time Pradells appeared again, making his first start among the pros. The fourth callout, which was opened by Fernando, Križo, Quiles and Presti, completed the picture of the medalists.

As we have already hinted, the form of none of the competitors was quite 100 percent, Michal, as many foreign and domestic experts have pointed out many times, was quite lame with his abdominal muscles during transitions between poses and during some poses. In terms of volume, however, he had no competition and given his really very good preparation and hardness, it was a real pleasure to watch. Although Andrea Presti really tried his best, he lacked both volume and readiness for Kriz and it was clear that Michal was on his way to another qualification for Mr. Olympia and the $10,000 prize money. Second and third place went to Presti followed by Fernando, as expected, and fourth place went to Quiles, who is undoubtedly the surprise of the competition. If this twenty-one year old fighter's health holds out, we can probably look forward to some very interesting fights with well-known names. Roman Fritz rounded out the top five, and he probably came out of the second call-up as the winner, even if his form was not quite 100%.