2016 Arnold Classic Predictions

Arnold’s Sport Festival 2016 – Predictions

The Arnold’s Sports Festival is fast approaching and athletes around the world are getting ready for this exciting event.  Taking place March 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio; the Arnold’s Sports Festival originally began in 1989 with just two categories, the Arnold Classic Men’s and Ms. International Women’s Bodybuilding.

Today, it has grown to host an array of over 50 sports and events from bodybuilding, to Olympic lifting, cheerleading, taekwondo and the list goes on.  The festival brings in about 18,000 athletes and 185,000 fans globally!

The IFBB Arnold Classic Men’s Bodybuilding category continues to draw in much attention and intrigue from fans at the festival.  The category presents an award of $130,000 to the winner and has seen the likes of Rich Gaspari, Jay Cutler, Kai Greene and Dexter Jackson claim the top spot.
For all the IFBB Pro followers out there, this article is my predictions of how this year’s top 3 will pan out in each category.

Arnold Classic
With the return of Kai Greene to the stage this year, it definitely throws some interesting speculations into this already competitive category.  We will see last year’s second, third and fourth place winners all returning to claim the top spot.  However, I think that his break from the stage will bring Kai back with his best body yet.  The always dependable Justin Compton is sure to present some tough competition as will Cedric McMillan with his ability to pose.  The question at hand is will they bring enough to take down Kai?  My assumption is that they will fall just shy of taking home the title.  These are my top three predictions:
1. Kai Greene
2. Justin Compton
3. Cedric

Arnold Classic 212
Last year’s winner of the category, Jose Raymond will be returning to compete this year as well as the runner up Hidetada Yamagishi.  This will be an interesting matchup between the two top contenders from 2015.  Can Hidetada bring more size to the stage to match-up to Jose?  I unfortunately believe the answer is no.  I see Jose taking home the title again this year.  Last year Corey Mathews placed 6th as he came in just a little too soft.  If he can pull off a harder look then I believe he could land a top spot.  My pick for the best 3 are as follows:
1. Jose Raymond
2. Hidetada Yamagishi
3. Corey Mathews

Fitness International

We will see many of last year’s top competitors returning to contest for another chance at victory.  As strong as these ladies are, this is a category that I believe has become dominated by Oksana.  As the winner in 2014 and 2015, this girl is on a roll!  I think she has more left in her and is going to take the title home for a third year.  Tanji has been strong competition and always brings her A-game to the stage.  I believe she will claim a second place finish.  Lastly, Bethany Wagner who finished fourth last year will round out my top 3 predictions.
1. Oksana Grishina
2. Tanji Johnson
3. Bethany Wagner

Figure International
 

This is another tough category with so many great contenders to watch out for; Camala Rodriguez-McClure, Candice Lewis-Carter, Latorya Watts and Gennifer Strobo just to name a few.  Camala, Candice and Latorya finished first, second and fourth respectively last year.  The competition was so close that arguably anyone of the top 4 from 2015 could have taken home the top spot.  Candice Keene who placed third last year and won in 2013 and 2014 will not be present this year.  With that said, here is how I think this year will pan out:
1. Candice Lewis-Carter
2. Camala Rodriguez-McClure
3. Latorya Watts

Bikini International
 

My personal favorite is the Bikini International category.  Ashley Kaltwasser who was the 2014 and 2015 winner will be absent from the competition this year which leaves room for a new champion.  Some of the ladies to watch for are Janet Layug, Justine Munro, India Paulino, Stephanie Mahoe and Narmin Assria.  These ladies all landed a spot in the top 6 last year.  Based on Janet’s third place finish in 2015 followed by her first place finish at the Arnold Classic Australia makes her one to watch.  Justine is another major contender as she always brings a great package to the stage and from the back she is the clear winner.  India Paulino took home the top spot in 2013 and has since struggled with maintaining a winning physique.  She seems to have regained her stride though and last year started to work her way back up the ladder with a fourth place finish in Columbus followed by a third place in Australia.  Lastly, a new challenger to add to the mix this year is Courtney King who placed third in Australia and at the Olympia last year.  Taking all this into consideration, this is my top 3:
1. Janet Layug
2. Justine Munro
3. Courtney King

So there you have my predictions for the 2016 Arnold Sports Festival IFBB Pro league.  I have left out two distinct categories in this list; Men’s Physique and Women’s Physique.  These two categories have moved from invitation-only to open categories this year.  This has expanded the number of competitors to over 40 in each category.  The change has left some of the big names we would expect to see visibly absent from the 2016 line-up.  With this new approach and plethora of contenders, making a prediction is somewhat of a toss-up.  It will be interesting to see how each of these classes pans out this year but I am going to reserve making any predictions.

Good luck to all the competitors and I look forward to watching this exciting event roll out in a few short weeks!

Claudia Scali is a fitness expert and transformation coach.  She owns an online fitness coaching business www.claudiascali.com helping women achieve their best bodies.  She graduated with an Honors Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto.  Claudia spent many years as a competitive dancer and eventually joined the CFL as a part of the Toronto Argonauts cheerleading team.  She has also competed in beauty pageants and placed as a top 20 finalist at the Miss Universe Canada pageant.  Throughout the past 2 years, Claudia has placed top 5 in five fitness competitions.  She has been featured as a guest on Rogers TV and published in Panoram Italia magazine.  She has also been published as a writer and contributed to the social media content for various publications.