Other than the Olympia, the biggest bodybuilding contest on the planet is the Arnold Classic. Every year, the best of the best come to Columbus, Ohio to see who can come out as the top bodybuilder.
One disappointment going into this years’ contest was that the man who won the last two years, Kai Greene, decided to sit out the contest in order to elongate his offseason to prepare for the 2011 Olympia after doing much worse than he hoped for in the 2010 Olympia.
After prejudging on Saturday morning, the fight for the top spot was between Evan Centopani, who won the first annual FLEX Pro, Victor Martinez, Branch Warren, and Dennis Wolf.
Warren had the best conditioning in the morning and was widely touted as the leader heading into the finals.
Ronny Rockel, Roelly Winklaar, Johnnie Jackson, and Dexter Jackson, who was hoping to capture his record-tying fourth Arnold Classic title, were fighting for the fifth and sixth spots.
After the finals, the results were announced. After the prejudging, there was not much of a change in the expected placings.
Dexter Jackson experienced a big disappointment with his fifth place finish. The veteran may be coming to terms with the fact that age is finally catching up with him and the younger guys might be too much for him.
Evan Centopani was taken back to reality with a fourth place finish. While not as good as winning the FLEX Pro, Centopani had a very solid showing against a deeper lineup.
It’s fair to say that Victor Martinez has fully recovered from his leg injuries. Martinez came to the Arnold Classic with a physique that was arguably better than it was during the 2007 Mr. Olympia when he controversially came in second place to Jay Cutler.
Second place went to Dennis Wolf. With his placing, Wolf made it clear that “The Big Bad Wolf” is back. Don’t expect another DNP from the young star this year at the Olympia.
The man who shocked the world with a second place finish at the 2009 Olympia came into the Arnold Classic in amazing condition. Combined with his great size, the man who has some of the best legs ever, Branch Warren, easily took the title.
In women’s bodybuilding, Iris Kyle continued her dominance by edging out Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia.
Adela Garcia took the fitness title. She continued her winning ways by beating out Tanji Johnson. Trish Warren came in third place.
Nicole Wilkens defeated Erin Stern for the figure title. Wilkens lost out to Stern in the Olympia this past year after winning the year before. As the Wilkens-Stern rivalry heated up, Ava Cowan grabbed third place.
In the bikini division, Nicole Nagrani came in first as Sonia Gonzalez took second with Nathalia Melo coming in at third.
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