October is here, and that means the road to the 2022 Olympia is coming down the home stretch, with the next bodybuilding contest on the schedule taking place in the same state as the Olympia itself.
The 2022 Legion Sports Fest is scheduled to take place at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, NV, on the weekend of Oct. 7-9, 2022. This IFBB Pro League show will feature seven divisions, with each winner qualifying for the 2022 Olympia Weekend, which will be held Dec. 15-18 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, NV.
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The contests that are late in the season tend to be more exciting because more athletes participate in them. They are hoping to either get a quick qualification spot for the Olympia, trying to rack up Olympia Qualification System points, or are already in the Olympia and want to gauge their progress.
This contest in particular made headlines in 2021 thanks to former Olympia 212 winner Shaun Clarida winning the Men’s Open division of that show, thus qualifying him for the Mr. Olympia and the Olympia 212 contest. Since the 2021 Legions Sports Fest took place after the 2021 Olympia, Clarida is qualified for the 2022 Mr. Olympia.
The 2022 Legions Sports Fest has over 120 pros competing in all divisions, with 16 being in the Men’s Open. The lineup for that division is below:
Men’s Open
- Tonio Burton
- Jamie Christian
- Stan de Longeaux
- Rafael Del Real
- Stephen Frazier
- Eiren Gauley
- Carlos Rodriguez Hernandez
- Kenneth Jackson
- Eric Langlois
- An Nguyen
- Jojo Ntiforo
- Jorge Abraham Trejo Reyes
- Carlos Emmanuel Longoria Rodriguez
- Justin Rodriguez
- Pavel Vashchenko
- Todd Whitting
Justin Rodriguez
The last time we saw the 2021 Indy Pro winner was at the 2022 New York Pro, where he finished fifth to winner Blessing Awodibu. Rodriguez had considered ending his season early, but he clearly had a change of heart. Rodriguez is currently third in the points standings, and is not yet qualified for the Olympia. A win changes all of that, but even a top five finish will help his chances of making it to the big stage in Las Vegas.
Jamie Christian
At 6’5”, Christian is one of the tallest pros on the circuit. He has had a productive season thus far, but has competed and traveled a lot over the last month. He was fourth at the Yamamoto Nutrition Pro in Italy, then he claimed sixth place at the Arnold Classic UK in Birmingham, England, and he was most recently third at the Yamamoto Pro France contest. This will be his fourth contest in his fourth different country in four weeks. The miles and posedowns may take a toll on him, but he can certainly win this contest if that is not the case.
Tonio Burton
Burton has competed in both the 212 and Open in his short career. He won the Indy Pro 212 title in 2021, but has focused on the open so far in 2022. He has placed in the top three twice. He was third at the California Pro, and he came in second to Antoine Vaillant at the Chicago Pro. Burton has a lot of thick muscle, and he can come in ripped. He will have to overcome the mass that Christian and Rodriguez will bring, but no one should sleep on him.
OQS Points and Other Divisions
The second through fifth place finishers at this show will earn Tier 3 Olympia Qualification System points for their efforts. Those points are as follows.
- Second – 6 points
- Third – 5 points
- Fourth – 4 points
- Fifth – 3 points
The top three finishers in each division by the cutoff date of Nov. 13, 2022 will also qualify for the Olympia — counting this contest, there are only six weekends left for competitors to add their names to the list for the biggest contest in bodybuilding. At this stage of the season, every point matters.
The lineups for the other six pro divisions of this contest are below, with names listed in alphabetical order. The largest group is the Men’s Physique, with 29 men planning on facing the judges in Reno as of the time of this article’s publication.
Classic Physique
- Jore Tabet Aleixandre
- Krimo Ammari
- Louiege Bascog
- Miguel Angel Perez Chueca
- Christopher Cox
- William Carswell Jr.
- Rohan Duncan
- Timothy Durning
- Alexander Fong
- Alan Mariano Garcia
- Zanyar Ghaderpour
- Jeff Hallenbeck
- Doug Heron
- Shin Kodama
- Eric Wildberger Lisboa
- Johnny McNeal Jr.
- Phong Nguyen
- Damien Patrick
- Zack Romano
- Beau Santos
- Bryant Carlton Smith
Men’s Physique
- Kim Angel
- Franklin Aribeana
- Thomas Bakke
- Tony Barhoum
- Ike Black
- Tony Chinakwe
- Robert Clark
- Tom Cox
- Erick Espana
- Reuben Glass
- Wilfred Harris
- Ryan Hoffman
- Edward Kaihe
- Brandon Laurent
- Charles Lee
- Adon Marcus
- Jimi Mendizabal
- David Merrill
- Otis Mosely
- Thomas Riley
- Zahid Sahak
- Justo A. Scott Jr.
- Nick Sparkman
- Kai Spencer
- Jimmie Stewart
- Vincent Strange
- Jabbaar Tobias
- Frank Worley
- Franky Yan
Women’s Physique
- Jonquil Baugh
- Sara Bradley
- Kara Bennitt
- Gessica Campbell
- Tanya Chartrand
- Samaiyah Council
- Lenka Ferencukova
- Susan Graham
- Christina Kremser
- Jodi Marchuck
- Diana Morales
- Heidi Orlando
- Heidi Worrell Osborne
- Karrisa Otero Hardgrove
- Evon Pennington
- Michelle Polanik
- Mary Power
- Diana Schnaidt
- Tracy Smith-Clark
- Sheree Valdez
- Samantha Welden Wiggins
- Brandi Jo Zirkelbach
Fitness
- Rene Brosch
- Danielle Chikeles
- Anna Chism
- Carolina Frausto
- Kamara Graham
- Tess Mikayla
Bikini
- Maria Acosta
- Ariel Barley
- Elizabeth Carrillo
- Deanna Dang
- Lawna Dunbar
- Alessia Facchin
- Shiho Fukuda
- Wiktoria Gasior
- Michelle Hurst
- Jessica Kavanagh
- Jourdanne Lee
- Kaylin Long
- Ruth Montes
- Jazmine Osborne
- Jessica Perez-Beebe
- Shirleyne Vilanova Petrere
- Alice Rocha
- Liliana Sakhanova
- Elizaveta Shmukler
Wellness
- Leticia Allen
- Jessica Alvarado
- Meriane Claire Amba
- Maria Paulette Aranguren
- Emily Azzarello
- Amanda Burnett
- Katherine Lebron
- Mayra Lopez
- Priscilla Lynd
- Veronica Paredes
- Tammy Sievers
- Frida Paulsen Stern
- Amanda Weis
- Judian Winston
Livestream Information
The promoters of this competition are offering a pay-per-view livestream of the entire weekend for a bundle price of $44.95 (USD). There are separate contest offers to watch individual divisions as well. You can order the livestream and watch the competitions by going to Legion Sports Fest website.
Featured image: @legionsportsfest on Instagram
