Olympia 212 Showdown - what the semifinal fights offered

Here we go! Bodybuilding fans have finally arrived and after a year, our biggest feast is here again in the form of the Mr. Olympia competition held traditionally in Las Vegas. After a long time we will see on the stage Big Ramy, last year's defending champion, who will try to take the title of bodybuilding king, for example Blessing Awodibu, Nick Walker, Brandon Curry, Hadi Choopan and Slovak giant Michal Križánek. However, the entire competition will be kicked off by the prejudging of selected categories, which will be dominated by the under 212lb category. And that's the one we're watching for you.

What interesting things did the first day bring?

Although there is not much interest in bodybuilding competitions (and unfortunately this is also reflected in the rather poor financial evaluation of the intermediate competitions), Mr. Olympia is an exception and attracts interesting money, prestige and of course a spectacular show that it brings to the audience. This year the whole event started with the presentation of the individual contestants. The only thing worth mentioning is that the number one starting spot was drawn in the Open division by Hadi Choopan, one of the competitors who can definitely threaten Big Ramy. Then followed the standard press conference, where there was no shortage of entertainment. Slovakian Michal Križánek brought it to life, but Nick Walker's references to Blessing were also interesting, as we reported in separate articles.

Morning semi-final matches

The morning program is the first of those that are widely watched. The first of the semi-final bouts will take place, with the highlight of the evening being the semi-finals of the under 212lb category, which although sometimes overlooked, will certainly offer a veritable plethora of big names and we can look forward to a close contest. But in addition to these, the Fitness Olympia, Figure Olympia, Women's Physique Olympia, Ms. Olympia and Wellness Olympia categories will also take the stage. In this report, we'll only focus on the most watched of these categories, the Under 212lb category. Although our site's report comes out in the evening, the competition venue is a full 9 hours later, so competitors will have prejudging in the morning and finals in the evening, although for us in Central Europe the competition takes place crossing midnight in two days.

Men's bodybuilding up to 212 pounds

The Men's Bodybuilding Under 212lbs looked like a very busy category already judging by the start list, and there will definitely be entertainment. A total of 36 athletes qualified for this event, however two competitors decided to move up to the Open category. One was Derek Lunsford, last year's winner of this category, the other was Nathan Epler, who was also in the top five competitors last year. At least that way it was clear in advance that a new king was bound to come this year.

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From the very first moment, all eyes were on Shaun Clardia, who, despite being invited to the Open category, decided to compete in the Bicentennial and defend the title he had already won in the past. However, apart from him, it is also worth mentioning the incredible looking Kamal Elgargni who, despite being fifty-one years old, showed really brutal form. The trio of athletes among whom the new king will most likely be chosen is rounded off by Angel Calderon Frias with an absolutely incredible upper body. These three athletes appeared in the very first invocation, where they were joined by Ahmad Ashkanani, Kerrith Bajjo, Oleh Kryvyi and Keone Pearson. Then in the last, i.e. fifth invocation, only the aforementioned trio appeared, making it very likely that one of them will dominate the category.

And how will it all turn out? You will find out tomorrow morning! We will keep you updated with the results and you can find them on our website.

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