Romania Muscle Fest PRO 2022 had an unexpected winner! Report and results

This year's competition season brought a number of really interesting competitions in which competitors had the opportunity to compare their strengths. However, some athletes still waited until one of the last competitions to show what they have in them and take advantage of one of the last opportunities to qualify for the upcoming Mr. Olympia, which will be held in almost a month. But waiting until the last minute doesn't always pay off, and these races were clear proof of that. Let's take a look at what all the Romania Muscle Fest PRO 2022 races held this weekend brought.

What was expected before the competition?

Out of the nine categories, the most interesting was the open category, which featured, among others, a trio of Czech bodybuilders Pavel Beran, Milan Šádek and Honza Turek. Among others, they had the chance to measure their musculature and readiness with such famous names as Enrico Hoffmann, who appeared at the Prague EVLS, Behrooz Tabani or Brett Wilkin, who was one of the huge favorites of the competition. Instead of working hard to pick up points, Wilkin opted for a longer offseason and this race was his attempt to qualify for the Olympia.

Open category

In spite of the fact that many Czech fans logically wished for the success of one of the Czech competitors, it was clear right after the semi-finals that they would not reach the precious metals this time. Pavel Beran together with Milan Šádek appeared only in the third call-up and it was clear that they had to save their appetite for the finals. On the other hand, the Chinese competitor Liang Yan was a huge surprise, as he won the pro card in the amateur division with his flawless form and immediately afterwards fought his way into the first call-up among the pros. There he joined, among others, the Czech competitor Honza Turk, Roman Fritz, Artem Pakhniuk and the trio of favourites Hoffmann, Wilkin and Tabani. The races were held in a good atmosphere, all the competitors showed very good forms and as time went on it became clear that it would be primarily a duel between the American racer Brett Wilkin and Behrooz Tabani from Iran. The two, after all, were the only two to appear in the last, or fifth, invocation and the judges had them perform a number of poses.

It was thus clear that this was a very close fight and the American, who had made the long journey to Romania with one goal in mind, certainly did not want to give his opponent anything for free. But even all the effort was not enough and the aforementioned Tabani eventually took first place and earned himself the prize money and the associated qualification for the Olympia. Third place was then taken by the gigantic Enrico Hoffmann, followed by Honza Turek. Artem Pakhniuk rounded out the top five.

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Pavel Beran

Milan Šádek

Jan Turek

Categories up to 212 pounds

In addition to the expected battle of heavyweights, there was definitely something to watch in the under 212lb category. There was also the Slovak competitor Tomáš Tabačiar, who is in really good shape this year. Unfortunately, this time he finished only third in the packed starting field, when the gigantic Vladimir Yakovlev and the victorious Radoslav Angelov, who only a few days earlier also took first place in the Europa Pro competition, from which we brought you a separate report, also appeared on the podium. The fourth place went to Daniel Sticco, who with 28 points is sovereignly first in the qualification ranking for this year's Olympia and despite the fact that this time he placed below the winner's box, he does not have to be too sorry.

Tomas Tabachar

Classic Physique

The classic physique category also brought an interesting spectacle, with 19 competitors in very good shape. The first place was taken by Adam Bomert from Poland thanks to his great preparation, who was followed by Abdullah Alrabiah from Saudi Arabia, and the third place was taken by the Spanish competitor Ruben Lopez Reyes, whom bodybuilding fans may remember as the winner of last year's EVLS Prague PRO, which guaranteed him qualification for this year's Mr. Olympia. The fourth place was then earned by Valeri Enchev, who currently cares about gaining every point, because he is currently in the ungrateful 4th place in the current ranking of the additional qualification for Olympia. The top five was then rounded off by Siem Goossens, who finished in the same position as he did at the recent Europa PRO.

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Men's Physique

Apart from the above mentioned categories, the Men's Physique fighters were also worth watching, where 14 fighters from almost all over the world presented themselves. One of the biggest favourites was undoubtedly the American competitor Burak King or the Spanish competitor Sidy Pouye - and just between them a very interesting duel took place, which in the end turned out better for the second of the mentioned fighters. The third place went to Febo Gambacorta, the fourth place went to Rafal Zabawa and the five champions were rounded off by Mohammad Ali representing Switzerland, who only received his pro card in October at the NPC Worldwide European Championship.

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What did the other categories bring?

Apart from the above mentioned categories, Romania Muscle Fest brought interesting fights in the categories of women's bodybuilding, figure, bikini, women's physique, wellness and also not quite usual categories of classic physique masters 45+ and Figure Masters 45+, where two competitors competed at the same time. Similarly to the recent Europa Pro, Gabriela Linhartová was the only Czech competitor. This time, however, she was not able to follow up her silver medal success from the aforementioned races and had to settle for eighth place. Rejoice Godwin dominated the Figure category, while the bikini category was dominated by the Ukrainian Valerya Fedorenko, already qualified for Olympia. Raluca Raducu dominated the women's physique category and Leonida Ciobu won the wellness category. The women's bodybuilding category was won by the well-prepared Alcione Santos, whose form you can see in the attached photos.

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Image source: instagram, npcnewsonline