Flex Flex UK - January 2018 | Page 86

BIKINI OLYMPIA TEIXEIRA RISES TO THE TOP ANGELICA TEIXEIRA TAKES THE BIKINI OLYMPIA TITLE. ■ With last year’s first-, third-, and fourth-place finishers— Bikini O titleholder Courtney King, India Paulino, and Ashley Kaltwasser—absent from the stage, the path to the pinnacle of bikini competition was suddenly cleared for Angelica Teixeira. A mere two years after debuting on the Bikini O stage (in a tie for last, no less) and one year after finishing second to Courtney King, Brazilian-born Teixeira ascended to the top spot. Was this result terribly surprising? Not after Teixeira’s performance at the Arnold Classic Bikini International in March, where she defeated King and signalled that she was in fighting form for a rematch with the reigning Bikini O titleholder at the O. With King’s absence, there were no true obstacles to impede Teixeira’s climb to the top. In similar fashion, absent those who bested her in 2016, Jennifer Ronzitti, last year’s fifth-place finisher, rose relatively unchallenged to the runner-up spot behind Teixeira, making it Ronzitti’s best O finish to date. Argentinian-born Romina Basualdo moved up from ninth last year to third, and Narmin Assria amply rounded out the top five, an improvement over her eighth-place finish in 2016. Newcomer Casey Samsel slid into an impressive fourth- place finish in her O debut. 84 FLEX | JANUARY 2018