The winner of this year's Yamamoto France Pro is Patrick Johnson | Report

The time when competitors can collect direct qualification or points for the upcoming Mr. Olympia is inexorably approaching and there is just over a month left to successfully nominate. One of the remaining opportunities was on the weekend of September 30 to October 1, when the Yamamoto France Pro took place in the French city of Lille, following the Italian race under the same banner. This time there were 4 categories, the most demanding of which was of course the open category.

The hotly contested Marc Hector came up against the brutal Patrick Johnson

In the royal open category, where the most massive fighters with no weight limit compete against each other, there was really something to see. In the starting field, you can see that the qualification date for the most prestigious bodybuilding festival in Las Vegas, Nevada is really approaching. In the starting field you could find some really big names like Marc Hector, Patrick Johnson, or even the nearly six-foot tall Jamie Christian Johal. It was the battle between these three names that was really interesting to watch - especially since two of these competitors were in the top 5 at the prestigious British Arnold Classic a week ago, which was won by Andrew Chinedu.

Right behind Andrew, however, was the aforementioned Patrick Johnson, which is why many people had their expectations on him. And no wonder - this Danish giant spends most of his time in Kuwait, where he focuses 100% on training, diet and recovery. And he's supervised by professionals Abdullah Al Otaibi and Ahmad Alnaqi.

At one time during the competition, however, it looked like the judges would prefer Marc Hector, who finished fifth in Birmingham last week. Don't be fooled though, this athlete has put on more than 10 kilos of pure competition mass since the season before last and has worked on his legs, which have been his biggest weakness until now. Plus, he showed off his perfect form, making up for any shortcomings from the British Arnold.

However, despite initial expectations, everything turned out differently and the judges eventually favoured Patrick Johnson, who after a series of second places finally earned his invitation to the Olympia. He was closely followed by Marc Hector and third place went to Jamie Christian Johal, who also won the prize for best posing.

A rather surprising fourth place was then earned by Palestinian pro Sarhan Sarhan, who has long trained under elite Kuwaiti coach Ahmad Askar. Fifth place went to Ossama Ashour, who made his debut among professionals last year and improved significantly. Until last year, his best finish was 7th place at the Egyptian KO Pro.

TOP5 competitors in the open category

1st place - Patrick Johnson
2nd place - Marc Hector
3rd place - Jamie Christian-Johal
4th place - Sarhan Sarhan
5th place- Ossama Ashour

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Vissers, Walker and Mazza dominated the other categories

In addition to the aforementioned open category, there were also competitions in the classic physique, men's physique and bikini categories, all of which provided quite an interesting spectacle.

Classic physique

In the classics, Valeri Enchev and Wesley Vissers fought an interesting battle, and the judges finally decided to award him the first place and thus qualification for Mr. Olympia. For Enchev it is still a significant achievement, considering that he only got his pro card in September Arnold Classic. However, the Bulgarian athlete originally competed in the open category - due to his lack of volume, he tried classic physique instead and this change obviously paid off.

1st place - Wesley Vissers
2nd place - Valeri Enchev
3rd place - Christian Zagarella
4th place - Woilid Baatout
5th place - Craig Morton

Bikini Fitness

In the bikini category it was again a fairly even battle, where Eli Fernandez, despite her lifetime form, was not able to keep up with the fired up Ottavia Mazza. Just last week, the duel between the two competitors was much better for the Mexican Fernandez, who finished 4th at the British Arnold Classic, while the Italian competitor was 10th.

1st place - Ottavia Mazza
2nd place - Eli Fernandez
3rd place - Allison Testu
4th place - Ester Oczella
5th place - Rukiye Solak

Men's physique

The men's physique category was then dominated quite sovereignly by Emile Walker, who took the bronze medal from the British Arnold Classic a week ago.

1st place - Emile Walker
2nd place - Sidy Pouye
3rd place - Lorenzo Giachetti
4th place - Omar Suleiman
5th place - Tunde Hassan

Well, that's it for this race report. But don't despair, there are two races worth watching next week - Legion Sports Fest Pro and Tsunami Cup. At the end of October we will have the home EVLS Prague Pro, from which we will also bring you a detailed report.