Toronto PRO Supershow 2023 dominated by Ian Valliere, Slavoj out of TOP 5 | Results and reportage

This Sunday, after the previous Musclecontest California PRO and New York PRO, was again marked by another Jim Manion professional league competition, where the best heavyweights in their category can fight for qualification for Mr. Olympia. And just a glance at the start list could suggest that there will definitely be something to watch, although the Czech fans were of course most interested in Slavoj Bednar, who managed to break into the top five last week in California and clearly showed that he is a force to be reckoned with. How did the races look like? And how did they turn out? That's what we'll look at in today's report.

What did the predictions look like?

While there were, of course, a number of big names on the start list, there were three competitors who usually featured most often among the various analysts - Hassan Mostafa, Ian Valliere and Ross Flanigan. The former won two professional competitions last year, although he did not participate in the Olympia. It is important to note, however, that despite his massive physique and incredible bulk, his form at competitions has not always been up to scratch - not to mention the fact that this is his first time competing with a new coach. In contrast, Ian Valliere, incidentally the 2014 Amateur Olympia winner, has mostly great conditioning as well as an interesting aesthetic with a fairly narrow waist. Oh, and the third favorite probably doesn't need much introduction, as he beat both Tonio Burton and Sergio Oliva Jr. at the aforementioned Musclecontest California PRO last week.

And what about the competition itself?

We won't bore you too much, it's clear that most of you are primarily interested in how the contest went and what interesting things happened. And of course, we have to admit that from the beginning there was a lot to watch and the competition was one of the really excellent ones. The semi-finals brought many interesting comparisons, although by the first callout it was clear that the predictions published by the commentators were probably not really true. The final was mainly marked by the duel between Hassan Mostafa and the home team's Ian Vallier. It should be noted that Hassan showed perhaps the most prepared form in his life, as his muscles were well-plasticised and, thanks to a well-pressed water, there was perhaps nothing to fault him. Many fans, especially those online, were calling Hassan Mostafa the clear winner. Unfortunately for him though, even Ian Valliere didn't offer the judges any mistakes that would have given the Egyptian giant an opportunity. And considering the great progress the home-grown Valliere had shown since his last appearance at Olympia, the WOW effect from his character was even more magnified and he rightfully took second place ahead of Hassan.

A similar battle was then fought for third and fourth place respectively, pitting the well-tuned Ross Flanigan, who already has his ticket to Olympia, against Robin Stand, who despite perhaps the best preparation of the competition still had a few shortcomings regarding muscle development and so had to settle for fourth place. Joe Seeman rounded off the top five, so Slavoj Bednar was unfortunately unable to repeat his success from last week.

The ranking was as follows:

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212 and other divisions

In addition to the Open category, there were also a number of other categories, or all of them except Fitness. And it should be noted that the under 212lb category produced a similarly interesting spectacle, pitting such giants as Piotr Borecki, Sung Yeop Jang and Chris Buhr against each other. All of these competitors were united by good conditioning, huge musculature and overall body balance, so there was definitely something to watch. In the end, it was the first of the above mentioned competitors who took the victory and was the only one to get a qualifying ticket for Mr. Olympia.

In the Classic Physique category Samuel Paquin finally succeeded, Men's physique was dominated by Mehdi Kabbadj, Women's bodybuilding belonged to Julia Whitesel and in the Bikini category Eli Fernandez dominated quite convincingly.

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