So pleased to see that Dexter Jackson doubled down on his razor-sharp condition of the Mr. Olympia to cruise to a unanimous win over a killer lineup of 32 at the Masters Olympia last night in Miami. The ’ 08 Mr. Olympia, who won this contest last year, when it was called the Masters Pro World Championship, was the favorite to repeat, and he is now the first man ever to win both the Olympia and the Masters Olympia in his career.
As it was last time around, runner-up honors went to X-man Toney Freeman, with an out-of-retirement Dennis James, Ed Nunn and Ronny Rockel rounding out the top five, in order.
I took a special interest in this contest, as I recently interviewed Dexter for Canada’s Muscle Insider magazine, a cover story that should be out early in 2013. Congrats, Dexter, on the cover as well as the big win.
Promoter Jarka Lorie Schneider provided another slam-bang absolutely final end of the competitive season with this weekend, including a $250,000 total purse; Miami Pro Championships in fitness, figure and bikini, and a big-name Return of the Legends seminar, in addition to an NPC show.
In the figure competition the theme was good things come in threes, as Candice Lewis scored her third win in a row since coming in seventh at the ’12 Olympia in September, and Kamala Macko, a USA class winner in 2012, took the runner-up spot for the third time in a row. Dana Ambrose got the third slot, while Elisha Archibold and Dawn Fernandez rounded out the top five.
The bikini lineup attracted a strong lineup of 20 and included a number of promising newcomers, like Aly Veneno, who parlayed a pro card at the Nationals last month into a fifth-place finish here. Top honors, not surprisingly, went to last year’s champ, India Paulino, with rising stars Lacey DeLuca and Yarelis Gonzalez taking second and third, respectively. Yeshaira Robles slid into fourth, just a point a head of Veneno.
Fitness was the smallest lineup, with nine, but it was big on wow factor. Natalie Planes got her pro card at the ’12 Fitness Nationals/Team Universe last summer and made an impressive debut, taking fourth in the physique round and first by a mile in the routines. Whitney Jones landed in second, and Ryall Graber-Vasani took the physique round for a third-place finish. Also earning Olympia points: Diana Montiero, fourth, and Fiona Harris, fifth.
Photos: Repeat winners in Miami, Dexter Jackson and India Paulino.
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