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Preview by Mr Andrew Michalak

UPCOMING WEEKEND: 2011 IFBB JUNIORS AND MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS

by Andrew Michalak

2011 IFBB World Juniors and Masters Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships will be held upcoming weekend in the Spanish Mediterranean spa of Santa Susanna. Several World Women’s Championships were held there but they will host Juniors and Masters for the first time. This is the biggest IFBB contest, with over 500 participants, including athletes, delegates, supporters and guests. One hotel is not enough to accommodate all of them; fortunately there are many more hotels in Santa Susanna. The contest will be run in the well-know, spacious Parc Colomer Sport Center.

The biggest teams have been entered by Spain (27 athletes), Italy and Poland (17 athletes each), Germany (16 athletes), Russia (13 athletes), Hungary and Turkey (10 athletes each). All 6 continents will be represented. Beside Europe, strong teams will come from South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela) and Asia (India, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Thailand) and smaller from Africa (Gambia, South Africa), Central America (Barbados, El Salvador, Panama), North America (Canada) and Australia.

What can we expect in the particular categories?

JUNIOR WOMEN BODYBUILDING: Three-time European champion and two-time world champion Liana Pall (Romania) will fight for her third (and last, because of age) Worlds victory. Her main challenger will be her team-mate and the Europeans runner-up Mihalea Serban.

JUNIOR MEN BODYBUILDING UP TO 75 KG: 11 athletes, with two top from the 2011 European Junior Championships: Yovko Tikhov (Bulgaria) and Burak Güllü (Turkey). They ran a very tough battle, so this will be a return match. And 4^th place winner form the last Worlds, Milan Oboril (Czech Republic). The others are newcomer at this level.

JUNIOR MEN BODYBUILDING UP OVER 75 KG: Only 5 athletes, with Tim Budesheim of Germany, 2010 Worlds 4^th place winner and Arnold Europe winner as a main favorite. Polish Junior Nationals overall winner and 2009 Worlds finalist Witold Pomecko should be his most demanding rival.

JUNIOR MEN CLASSIC BODYBUILDING: 8 bodybuilders but nobody form the previous year, so completely new faces! Time will show who will be the best.

JUNIOR WOMEN FITNESS UP TO 163 CM: 6 athletes but of the top quality! 2010 world champion Laura Cupsa (Romania) and 2011 European champion Melinda Szabo (Hungary), who won over Cupsa in Alcala and later on was a sensational Arnold Europe and Women’s Worlds winner. Who can stop her? 2010 European champion Dominika Multanova (Slovakia), bronze medal winner at the 2011 Women’s Worlds? Renata Meri (Hungary), perfect routine performer but still not enough good body quality? Or maybe newcomers from Russia and Ukraine? Who knows?

JUNIOR WOMEN FITNESS UP OVER 163 CM: 7 athletes, with the 2010 Worlds bronze medal winner Nikoletta Resch (Hungary) and two more last year finalists: perfect routine performer Olga Stepina (Ukraine) and Justyna Jedlikowska (Poland), who also won bronze medal at the 2010 Europeans. The others are newcomers.

JUNIOR MEN FITNESS: Nobody from the previous year. Most of them already turned 21. The current European champion Anghel Birica (Romania) will fight for victory with the current South American men’s fitness champion Herman Rolon (Paraguay).

JUNIOR WOMEN BODYFITNESS UP TO 163 CM: As many as 11 competitors, with the 2010 world champion Jana Cernovska (Slovakia), who will be challenged by the 2011 Europeans silver medal winner Tetiana Davidenko (Ukraine) and Russian Junior Nationals overall winner Alena Podelko. Maybe a new star will be born from among young athletes of Slovakia, Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Poland?

JUNIOR WOMEN BODYFITNESS UP OVER 163 CM: 9 competitors with well-known rising stars: former European overall junior champion Adela Ondrejovicova (Slovakia), who had so nice debut at the latest Women’s Worlds in Novi Sad (4^th place) and Kristina Koroljak (Estonia), who placed 2^nd in fitness at the latest IFBB World Cup in Tallinn but now moved to bodyfitness.

MASTER WOMEN BODYFITNESS: the longest line-up, with 22 competitors and one great name: latest Arnold America and Arnold Europe winner, 2011 European master champion and 2010 Worlds masters runner-up Raquel Hernandez (Spain). Next famous name: 2011 Arnold America masters winner Anna Maria Giordani (Italy), who finished 2^nd (behind Hernandez) at the latest Arnold Europe. Then 2010 European Women’s 3^rd place winner Marisa Lopez (Spain), 2011 European Masters 3^rd place winner Emi Perez (Spain), two-time Worlds masters runner-up and current Nordic women’s champion Carina Isaksson (Sweden), Nordic legend Jorun Steine (Norway) and 2011 South American Women’s runner-up Tibis Araque (Venezuela) and… much, much more.

MASTER WOMEN BODYBUILDING: 16 athletes, with two big names: 2009 Women’s Worlds bronze medal winner and 2010 Masters Worlds silver medal winner Elena Stasiukyniene (Lithuania) and 2007 European master champion and 2008 Masters Worlds runner-up Marina Nikotina Russia). Under the absence of the legendary Violet Schwarz (Germany), they will be the main pretenders for victory. Then, 2011 European masters 3^rd and 4^th place winners: Nina Mukhortova (Russia) and Maria Leon (Spain), 4^th place winner of the latest Women’s Worlds Renata Richterova (Czech Republic), few-time Masters Worlds finalist Eszter Berkes (Hungary) and current Nordic master champion Nina Midling (Norway). A real melting pot with good athletes.

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 40-49, 70 KG: Master’s debut of the five-time European men’s champion and current finalist of the Men’s Worlds in Mumbai Adam Cibula (Slovakia). He will meet 2009 world masters champion Miguel Lopez (Spain), 2009 European masters champion and Worlds runner-up Carlo Capucci (Italy) and the second well-know Italian, 2010 European Men’s bronze medal winner Sandro Brocca. Adding three-time Masters Worlds bronze medal winner Henryk Hryszkiewicz (Poland) and 2011 Europeans Masters 4^th place winner Mario Hernandez (Spain) we see a lot of candidates for top places.

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 40-49, 80 KG: 2009 world masters champion Leonardo Carballo (Spain) will meet 2010 European masters champion Steven Graham (UK), 2011 European masters champion Maurizio Minoccari (Italy), 2011 Arnold Europe winner Valeri Koptenko (Ukraine), 2011 European Masters runner-up Hassan Maquine (Spain) and few more. Great meet of the world top masters bodybuilders.

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 40-49, 90 KG: Legendary Brazilian, three-time world master champion and Men’s 2006 World runner-up Luiz Sarmento comes back to regain the title. Who will try to stop him? Current European masters overall winner Jakub Potocki (Poland), 1999 European Men’s champion Pedro Jose Villa, who came back this year and won Arnold Europe master title, 1996 European men’s champion and twice Masters Worlds runner-up Hakan Gumus (Turkey), three-time Masters Worlds bronze medal winner Ernst Zimmermann (Germany), 2011 South American super heavyweight runner-up William Ortuno (Venezuela) and… real sensation: European men’s fitness pioneer and first continental champion Zoltan Kormos (then Hungary, now Spain), who will debut in bodybuilding now. One of the strongest category at these Championships.

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 40-49, OVER 90 KG: Nobody from the famous 2010 top three (Hamdullah Aykutlug, Ercan Demir, Ahmed Hamouda) will come. Who will be the leader this time? Arnold Europe men’s 85 kg class winner and South American men’s 90 kg runner-up Jose Bustamante (Venezuela) or 2011 South American men’s super heavyweight champion and Arnold Europe masters winner Luis Gigena (Argentina)? Or 2011 European Masters bronze medal winner Magnuss Bess Juliusson (Iceland)? Or 2011 Nordic men’s super heavyweight champion Timo Vilponen (Finland)? Or 2011 Arnold Europe runner-up and 2009 European Masters 3^rd place winner Sam Harris (Germany)? Or 2009 Men’s Worlds finalist Ralf Herget (Germany)? A lot of candidates of similar quality.

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 50-59, UP TO 80 KG: The 2010 Masters Worlds top two will come to battle again: world champion Armando Villa (Spain) and runner-up Faruk Horhor (Turkey). Who can do any damage to them? 2009 European masters champion Aleksandr Alekseev (then Russia, now Ukraine) or current European masters champion and two-time Masters Worlds runner-up Antonio Vergiani (Italy)? Or 2009 bronze medal winner Karl Heinz Tiegel (Germany)?

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 50-59, OVER 80 KG: 2010 European champion Inigo Ortiz De Mendibil (Spian) will combat against 2007 Europeans runner-up Stanislav Shakh-Nazarov (Russia), 2011 Arnold Europe runner-up and 2009 Masters Worlds 3^rd place winner Wolfgang Schober (Austria) and 2011European Masters bronze medal winner Mario Pace (Malta).

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING 60-65: New category, with 7 athletes. Two-time world masters champion Rafael Vera (Spain) seems to be “untouchable”. Who may challenge him? 2010 Europeans bronze medal winner Vladimir Stepanek (Czech Republic) or 2008 Masters Worlds runner-up Luciano Andreose (Italy)?

MASTER MEN BODYBUILDING OVER 65: This will be a great inauguration of this class in the IFBB. Who will become the historical first IFBB champion in this age division? There are two big candidates, multi-time world masters champions: Bernard Cooper (UK) and Manuel Valbuena (Spain). Who will win this time? Cooper placed higher at the recent events but every solution is possible. The other well-know athletes, Masters Worlds finalists: Piotr Puchniarz (Poland) and Shigeru Ihara (Japan). And one sensation: South African businessman and great bodybuilding enthusiast Dion Friedland, who had regularly been seen at the Men’s Worlds as a spectator and photographer, now decided to compete. In Santa Susanna will be his inauguration.

MASTER MEN CLASSIC BODYBUILDING 40-49, OPEN: This will be the most exciting category at these Championships, with two current world me’s classic bodybuilding champions from Tallinn: Taavi Koovit (Estonia) and Jerzy Pisulski (Poland). They met in the overall category in Tallinn, where Pisulski finished 3^rd and Koovit 4^th. Now they will meet again. But there are also other serious candidates to the top laces: Arnold America and Amateur Olympia winner Mariusz Balazinski (Poland), 2011 European champion Giuseppe Brancaccio (Italy), 2010 Masters worlds runner-up Roman Senti (Switzerland), 2010 Masters Worlds finalists: Peter Hoppe (Germany) and Steven Travers (Australia). Hm, hm, only wait and look…

MASTER MEN CLASSIC BODYBUILDING OVER 50, OPEN: 2009 world master champion Frantisek David (Czech Republic) will fight against 2011 Asian masters champion Atsushi Katakawa (Japan).

2011 WORLD MEN’S CLASSIC BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

by Andrew Michalak

This weekend all eyes of the bodybuilding world will be on Tallinn, Estonia, where the 2011 World Classic Bodybuilding Championships and IFBB World Cup will be held. The upcoming Championships will be a record breaker, with 79 athletes nominated by National Federations in classic bodybuilding, 29 to the IFBB World Cup and 13 to demonstrate a new sport concept: athletic fitness.

Altogether, over 120 competitors from 34 countries will take part, with the biggest teams from Estonia, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Norway.

The Championships will take place in the very modern Nokia Concert Hall theatre, constructed in 2008, with auditorium for 1830 viewers and high-quality, up-to-date sound and light systems. You may see it on the virtual tour at: http://www.tallinnco…uaal/index.html

It will be a perfect place for displaying of the body beauty of the top physique sports athletes of the world!

– Semifinals will start November 19 (Saturday) at 10:00 (morning session) and 15:00 (afternoon session);

– Finals: November 20 (Sunday) at 15:00.

Looking at the list of nominated athletes, we can have an impression that classic bodybuilding has been expanding to the entire world nowadays. Beside Europe, there are athletes from Australia, Canada, Gambia, South Africa, Korea, Japan, Iran, Jordan, Morocco – five continents. Only South America will not be present this time but classic bodybuilding has also been growing there, having 20 athletes from 7 countries at their recent continental championships in Caracas, Venezuela and they were widely present at the 2011 Arnold America, with Jesus Britos (Paraguay) as the 171 cm category winner. There are so many top IFBB events in Asia and Europe this autumn that it is a hard financial challenge to the National Federations from America to participate in all of them. They will have their great festivity next year when the 2012 Men’s Worlds will be hosted by the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil.

And now the actors of the 2011 Classic Bodybuilding Worlds and IFBB World Cup: the athletes:

2011 IFBB WORLD MEN’S CLASSIC BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 168 cm:

8 athletes, with the current European champion Tomas Lukac (Czech Republic) and last-year World’s finalist Robert Horvath (Croatia). 2010 world champion Mahmut Irmak (Turkey) already moved to the traditional bodybuilding.

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 171 cm:

17 athletes and three great names: 2010 world champion Yeon-Seok Yang and runner-up Yong-In Ha (both of Korea) and 2011 European champion and Arnold Europe winner Konstantin Paskalev (Bulgaria). Moreover, East European champion Denis Bashkatov (Russia) and Int. Cup of Poland winner Damian Witkowski (Poland).

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 175 cm:

19 athletes, with 2011 Arnold America and Amateur Olympia winner Mariusz Balazinski and 2011 European champion Przemyslaw Zokowski (both of Poland), Amateur Olympia 3^rd place winner Fernando Gornals (Spain), Korean veteran and 1997 Asian champion in traditional bodybuilding Myung-Sub Kim, who will debut in classic bodybuilding at this event and Estonian fans great hope for the title, 2010 Worlds bronze medal winner Imre Vahi.

Men’s classic bodybuilding up to 180 cm:

15 athletes, with 2009 European champion and Amateur Olympia winner Murat Demir and 2010 Worlds bronze medal winner Thomas Schnelldorfer (both of Germany), 2011 Eastern Europe Cup winner Alexander Kamenskiy (Russia) and… Mohsen Ghorannevis of Iran, who showed incredible body conditions two years ago but then was suspended for two years. Now returns!

Men’s classic bodybuilding over 180 cm:

As usual, the longest line-up, with 20 athletes. Some biggest names: 2010 world champion and 2011 Arnold America overall winner Jerzy Pisulski (Poland), 2008 world champion Roman Plachinta (Russia) and 2009 European champion Taavi Koovit – the next hope of the hosting country.

2011 IFBB WORLD CUP

Women’s fitness:

This time great show, with the world champion Tatiana Dvortsova (Russia), former world junior champion Oksana Orobets (Ukraine) and Europeans runner-up Olga Volokh (Russia).

Men’s fitness:

World champion Oleg Anissimov (Estonia), new Ukrainian star, “Fitness Bomb” show winner Fedor Khashalov and rising stars from Jordan and Turkey.

Women’s bodyfitness up to 163 cm:

2010 world champion Olga Muntian (Ukraine), European and Arnold Europe runner-up Magdalena Krajkowska (Poland) and European bronze medal winner Elena Pitsishina (Russia).

Women’s bodyfitness over 163 cm:

2011 Arnold America and Amateur Olympia winner Tetyana Mikheychyk (Ukraine) plus 5 rising stars form Latvia, Estonia, Turkey and Russia.

Men’s bodybuilding:

Europeans runner-up Ott Kiivikas and well-know Nordic bodybuilders: Tapani Valkonen (Finland) and Soran Rashid (Norway).