Tampa PRO 2023: Hunter Labrada secures qualification for Mr. Olympia! Results and report

The bodybuilding season is of course packed with more or less prestigious competitions and almost every week the competitors have the opportunity to show their form somewhere. However, Tampa PRO is one of the permanent bodybuilding events and it is a standard event featuring top competitors from all over the world. The 16th edition of the event offered a total of 8 other categories besides Open and up to 212 pounds and there was certainly no shortage of competition.

Pre-Competition Predictions

As far as the pre-competition predictions are concerned, the starting list for the open category consisted of 9 competitors, including a number of big names. Perhaps the one that resonated the most, however, according to instagram posts, was the well-prepared Hunter Labrada, who dominated this competition back in 2020. Hunter declared beforehand that his goal for this season is to improve muscle volume while maintaining an optically narrow waist. Thus, many fans believed that if he could accomplish this goal, he would be the favorite for today's contest. In particular, Jonathan De La Rosa, a bit of a bodybuilding veteran who last appeared at Tampa PRO in 2016 when he took fifth place, could stand in his way. However, he showed great form at Chicago PRO 14 days ago, where he finished a close second to Justin Shier, and it's no wonder he's hungry to compete after such success. Nate Spear, who took bronze at the recent Vancouver PRO, could also shuffle the standings and although many experts tipped him to be the first callout, he was not expected to directly threaten the top spot.

It was the 212lb category that offered a much more packed starting field, promising the participation of as many as 15 athletes from around the world. The paper favorites before the competition were Egyptian giant Mohamed Embaby, Brazilian competitor Fabricio de Souza Moreira and Canadian bodybuilder Jason Nguyen, who made his pro debut at the aforementioned Chicago PRO and immediately capped it off with a second place finish.

Open category

While Instagram photos can sometimes embellish reality a bit, and even more so when it comes to a bodybuilder's readiness, in Hunter's case they didn't lie one bit. He showed up in great shape, maybe even in the shape of his life. Right from the prejudging though, it was clear that he wasn't going to give Jonathan De La Rosa anything for free, as he showed a stunning upper body as standard and in some poses the comparison between these two giants was really even, with the 6 remaining competitors not really catching on. Eventually British bodybuilder Stephen Daniels dropped out of the pre-released start list, making the Open the least populated category ever at the entire competition.

The fact that Hunter received 5 points from the judges for the final and Jonathan only 6 points, so the difference between them was minimal, testifies to the evenness of the whole competition. Joel Thomas and Brady King joined them in the first call-up, for whom it was the first competition among the heavyweights in the professional division and who could thus mark a fantastic beginning of this new era. Gradually, however, Brady stayed on the rack in other call-ups and it became clear that he would not be fully involved in the fight between Jonathan and Hunter. In contrast, the British rider Lewis Breed, who showed great form after the break between the prejudging and the final, was gradually getting into the medal fight. He rightly took third place. Fourth place went to Joel Thomas and the top five were rounded off by the aforementioned newcomer Brady King.

Hunter Labrada scored his second career win at Tampa PRO and once again managed to qualify for Mr. Olympia. We can only wait to see what kind of form he will finally show at the competition and whether he will improve on last year's seventh place or even fourth place the year before.