New York PRO 2023 dominated by Tonio Burton, Pepa Květoň takes bronze! Results and report

Although many athletes are currently focusing their eyes primarily on the ongoing hockey World Cup, the bodybuilding season is also in full swing. After the inaugural Arnold Classic Ohio and the follow-up Arnold Classic Brasil, the third of 24 competitions where the best bodybuilders on the planet from the open category will be able to compete this year. However, the New York PRO is also exceptional with the participation of the Czech team - we informed you about the current form of Josef Květon, who went to the USA to enjoy his second competition among the pros, in a separate article. In this report, we will look at how the whole race went and how not only Pep, but also Slavoj and other competitors fared.

Open category

In the heavyweight category 16 fighters decided to compete, among them were also two Czech competitors that we mentioned in the introduction. The starting field, as is usual in bodybuilding competitions, gradually changed and the originally announced Sergio Olivy Jr., whose plans for New York PRO we also informed you about in a separate article. But unfortunately, this descendant of the legendary bodybuilder is still not allowed to leave Dubai and so his future is quite uncertain in this regard. On the other hand, Thierry Afandonoughbo appeared on the start list, but he is definitely not a full-fledged replacement.

Before the races, foreign websites were tipping the victory of last year's Olympia graduate Tonio Burton, who, according to the photos he posted on his social networks, was in incredible form. According to the analysts, he could be threatened by Stuart Sutherland or Joe Seeman, so nobody counted on the Czech fighters.

However, the Czech sensation started to give clearer outlines in the first call-up, where, besides the expected trio of Burton, Sutherland and Seeman, Eric Wood and Josef Květoň, two newcomers to the professional league, also got in. It was all the more amazing that Pepa was standing next to Burton, who, due to his great form, was not in any doubt as the winner. Slavoj Bednar then appeared in the third callout and there he was joined by Cardoza, Debbs, Park, Tomczuk and the aforementioned Afandonougbo. The next callouts then brought perhaps a little nervousness to the eyes of the Czech fans, because in the fourth callout the judges decided to compare Charles, Kvetona, Seeman and Wood and the last fifth callout was completed by Burton and Sutherland. It was to be expected that the top two spots were already taken and only the bronze plaque would be decided. And Josef Květoň was well on his way to it.

He was threatened by Seeman in particular from the fourth call-up, but Pepa showed better posing and although he may have lost a little in some areas in terms of muscularity, aesthetically he looked better and the overall impression of his physique was accentuated by a much narrower waist compared to his opponent.

The announcement of the results didn't bring any unexpected twist, with fifth place going to Wood, who is improving by leaps and bounds, but this time he got the timing of his preparation a bit wrong and looked rather soft in some areas, with fourth place going to Joe Seeman. The bronze plaque went to the Czech pro Pepa Květona, the silver was deservedly taken by Stuart Sutherland and the gold went to the fearless and well built Tonio Burton.

For Pepa, this is an absolutely sensational placement, because NY PRO is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the bodybuilding season. And it should be noted that Pepa has already stirred up the American bodybuilding waters (in a positive sense, of course) after his success at the Brazilian Arnold Classic, where he took fourth place. This time, we can definitely count on him to be even more talked about. And we congratulate him and wish him many more sporting successes in the future!

Top 5 New York Pro 2023

Bodybuilding up to 212 pounds

The under 212lb category had 17 athletes on the start list, and predictions were certainly making a big splash with Jason Hebert, Diego Guerra Montoya and Kerrith Bajjo among them. And it was more than clear during the prejudging that these three competitors would indeed duke it out amongst themselves for the win. And while Bajjo showed an absolutely incredible readiness and really deep sculpting, Montoya and Hebert showed great volumes that they might not have lost in the Open category.

It was such a joy to watch the ongoing action on stage and wait to see who the judges would favor. His qualification for Mr. Olympia was finally secured by Kerrith Bajjo, who, thanks to his height of 165 cm, still has the opportunity to gain many more kilograms within the weight limit of the category up to 212 pounds (96.2 kg) - he even fit under 90 kilograms at last season's competitions, so we can only look forward to what he will show on the boards of the most famous bodybuilding competition at the end of the year.

Second place went to Diego Montoya and third place went to the aforementioned Jason Hebert. Just below the imaginary podium was Jose Marte and the top five athletes from this category were rounded off by South Korean pro Sung Yeop Jang.

Other categories

In the Classic physique category there was quite an interesting battle for the victory, which was entered by the well-prepared Michael Daboul, who was threatened by the duo of Junior Javorski and Alexander Westermeier. The athletes ended up in exactly the same order, but it was a great spectacle and all three showed great form. The Men's physique category was dominated by Ryan Terry, the Women's bodybuilding category was dominated by Natalia Kovaleva, while the Czech bodybuilder Vera Mikulcova also took sixth place in this category.