ANDREW OYE'S IFBB PRO CONTEST REPORT: IFBB PRO TROY ALVES TRIUMPHS AT HARTFORD PRO BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS, EUROPA BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS
The Item: IFBB Pro League Contest Results, Andrew Oye's IFBB Pro Athletes Roundup
The Scoop: Just Announced: Over the weekend, IFBB Pro Troy Alves triumphed, winning 1st place in the Open Division at the 2011 Hartford Pro Bodybuilding Championships, a.k.a. Europa Battle of Champions. Canadian IFBB Pro Marc Lavoie was awarded 2nd place. Powerlifter and IFBB Pro Ben White finished in the 3rd position. IFBB Pro Will Harris' pre-show hype and torn latissimus dorsi couldn't push him higher than 4th place. IFBB Pro Fred Smalls placed 5th in the Finals.
The remaining field: IFBB Pro Toney Freeman (6th), IFBB Pro Johnnie Jackson (7th), IFBB Pro Jeff Long (8th), IFBB Pro Tricky Jackson (9th), IFBB Pro Adorthus Cherry (10th), IFBB Pro Moe Bannout (11th), IFBB Pro Phil Von Kaenel (12th), IFBB Pro Grigori Atoyan (13th) and IFBB Pro Heinz Senior (14th).
The "So What?": As reported in "Andrew Oye's Pro-Muscle Report," the Top 3 IFBB Pro League athletes at the Hartford Pro Bodybuilding Championships earn Olympia qualifications to face 4-time Mr. Olympia IFBB Pro Jay Cutler at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend in Las Vegas (September 16). Ironically, Troy Alves had been pepping to compete at the Europa SuperShow in Dallas (August 13) and decided at the last minute to jump into the Hartford Pro Europa Battle of Champions, a contest where he took 2nd place last year (won by IFBB Pro Ed Nunn). Tricky Jackson took a shot at the Open Division, since there was no 202 Division this year as there was in 2010 (which was won by his former radio show co-host IFBB Pro Jose Raymond).
Andrew Oye's Verdict: In Hartford, conditioning was king over structure, which might explain why a decent-looking, veteran Olympia competitor like Toney Freeman was surpassed by Marc Lavoie, who earned his IFBB Pro card at the 2008 IFBB North American Championships and whose highest Open Class placing to date was a 9th place finish at this year's Toronto Pro Championships (won by IFBB Pro Craig Richardson). Hartford was also good to Ben White, who, though appearing less massive, gained a higher placing than his 3rd place finish in Connecticut in 2010 and a higher placing than his rival in the IFBB World's Strongest Bodybuilder Powerlifting Challenge -- Johnnie Jackson.