It's going to be between Sherry Priami and Chelsea Dion. Sherry has come second in her last two shows, so she's going to be hungry for the win and the Olympia qualification. Chelsea was third behind Sherry at the Chicago Pro, and has a few improvements she needs to make. If Chelsea can bring more conditioning in her upper body then she may get the win. There's also Sheena Ohlig with an outside chance - she'll be in the top 5.
Where did you find this info @Gulfstingray? I'm interested in the Women's Physique lineup. TIA
You'll have to scroll down a bit: https://www.ifbbpro.com/event/2022-tampa-pro/
I'm still floored that Figure girls are just borderline Physique competitors nowadays.
I think it has to do with Ms Olympia coming back. Judges may still be figuring out what they want from the different categories. For instance, Andrea Shaw Hulk'd out so much in 2021 that the judges told her not to get any bigger this year.
For instance, Andrea Shaw Hulk'd out so much in 2021 that the judges told her not to get any bigger this year.
Like telling an Olympic sprinter to slow the fuck down. It's a goddamn miracle female bodybuilding still exist. Over 40 fucking years has female bodybuilding competition been around and judges are still trying to figure it out.
I'm of two mindsets. It is frustrating that female bodybuilders have had to compete with weird restrictions that have led to women like Bev Francis being snubbed.
On the other hand, I think of the 2018 Mr Olympia and how Phil Heath lost out to Shawn Rhoden because, although Heath was bigger, it would have looked nuts on the judging panel's part if they rewarded his ridiculous bubble gut.
I think that's what's happening with the women. They're encouraging them to bulk up, but they want to keep the physiques looking aesthetic and... "natural", whatever that means in this case.
And Andrea seems fine with it. She encourages an emphasis on shape and femininity over showing up with muscles all the way up to her ears. But then that begs the question - should femininity even be judged?
Somehow aesthetics, balance and femininity need to be in the mix in some way and that's where the struggle with judging comes in. If you don't include those attributes then remove the judging and have the whole thing determined strictly by equations with inputs from tape measures and body fat percentages. Very few people would ultimately like that. So you are back to including aesthetics, balance and femininity, some way.
Judging by this first callouts photo, I would wager on Sheena.
Agreed.
I'm of two mindsets. It is frustrating that female bodybuilders have had to compete with weird restrictions that have led to women like Bev Francis being snubbed.
On the other hand, I think of the 2018 Mr Olympia and how Phil Heath lost out to Shawn Rhoden because, although Heath was bigger, it would have looked nuts on the judging panel's part if they rewarded his ridiculous bubble gut.
I think that's what's happening with the women. They're encouraging them to bulk up, but they want to keep the physiques looking aesthetic and... "natural", whatever that means in this case.
And Andrea seems fine with it. She encourages an emphasis on shape and femininity over showing up with muscles all the way up to her ears. But then that begs the question - should femininity even be judged?
I agree with the aesthetics argument. These women shouldn't look like "roid monsters" on stage. There should be some degree of control in terms of aesthetic appearance, because it really is somewhat of a beauty pageant and always has been... it's just that this pageant is focused on muscles.
This last decade has created a lot of confusion when they took away the Bodybuilding division and essentially replaced it with Physique, only to later bring Bodybuilding back. Now we have both divisions but the only real distinction between them seems to be their posing. I think the federations and judges are still trying to decide on where to draw the line between the two.
The results are in:
Chelsea was so fantastic her whole body especially her arms were a work of art
Meanwhile Physique has just become bodybuilding, but with different posing. Their size and conditioning is almost indistinguishable.
I agree. I’m definitely of the mindset “the bigger the better,” but that’s about what I find attractive. I actually hate in the competition world that the lines between each has blurred. Bikini girls look like figure girls now. Some figure girls that are doing well should be in physique, and yeah like you said, physique is now bodybuilding. When DLB won in I think 2013, it probably should have been the standard, about that size.
I still think there's enough of a size difference between WPD and WBB.
No chance you could trot Brooke Walker, as big as she is, out on the BB stage and say she's big enough to compete with those girls. Like the top 5 is just too big.
I'm still of the mind that they should add a classic division for women for the larger WPD girls, and downsize the WPD division to what it was a few years ago
I'm still of the mind that they should add a classic division for women for the larger WPD girls
I agree. Competitors like Jada Beverly would thrive in that type of division.
Wow, congrats to Chelsea! I actually had her switched with Sheena for 1st and 2nd place, in my mind. Guess that's why I'm not a judge. 😅
I would have given it to Sheena, too, over Chelsea. Pretty evenly matched in the upper body, but Sheena had better leg development, particularly in the hamstrings. Pretty close between them. You could make an argument for either one.
WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING
No NAME COUNTRY
136 Chelsea Dion Las Vegas, Nevada
137 Victoria Dominguez Arlington, Texas
138 Tina Mauer Guadarrama Lincoln, California
139 Janeen Lankowski Tampa, Florida
140 Tamara Makar Douglasville, Georgia
141 Cheryl Mears Kissimmee, Florida
142 Pauline Nelson Brooklyn, New York
143 Sheena Ohlig Camden, New Jersey
144 Gabriela Pena Pleasanton, California
145 Sherry Priami Melbourne, Florida
146 Jennifer Sweeney Osteen, Florida