CLASSIC PHYSIQUE OLYMPIA
CLASSIC
UPRISING
BREON ANSLEY
WRESTLES AWAY THE
TITLE OF THE CLASSIC
PHYSIQUE OLYMPIA.
■ No division experienced as
much change at the top of the
scorecard as classic physique.
Up was down and down was
up. Last year’s winner and
runner-up, Danny Hester
and Arash Rahbar, found
themselves rounding out the
bottom end of the top five, in
fifth and fourth, respectively,
and classic favourites Sadik
Hadzovic and Darrem Charles
fell out of the top five entirely.
In Hester’s former perch atop
the field was Breon Ansley, the
2016 Classic O’s fourth-place
finisher, whose convincing win
at the New York Pro in May had
already put the field on notice.
Ansley earned his pro card
in 2013 at the USAs as a
middleweight in the open
bodybuilding division, debuted
in the IFBB with an under
whelming appearance as a 212
bodybuilder in 2014, and then
jumped to the classic division
in 2016, where his talent has
taken root. Suggesting that size
increasingly matters in classic
physique, Ansley’s toughest
competitor in Vegas was
fast-charging Canadian-born,
V-tapered upstart Chris
Bumstead, who in his debut
pro year rode into the Olympia
powered by victories at the
Pittsburgh and Toronto Pros.
After the final call out, only
three points separated them.
Completing the trio at the
top and narrowly beating out
Hester and Rahbar was George
Peterson, another competitor
coming off a heady rookie year,
having finished first at the
Tampa Pro and second in New
York behind Ansley.
80
FLEX | JANUARY 2018
1
BREON
ANSLEY