The pre-judging round of the 2025 Arnold Classic was held on Friday night, Feb. 28, 2025, in the Battelle Grand of the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH. This contest featured three former Mr. Olympia winners and nine more of the IFBB Professional League’s elite competitors.
2025 Arnold Classic Pre-Judging Report
The roster for this competition is below, with names in alphabetical order.
- William Bonac
- Shaun Clarida
- Brandon Curry
- Samson Dauda
- Hussameddin Elsawi
- James Hollingshead
- Andrew Jacked
- Derek Lunsford
- Patrick Moore
- Justin Rodriguez
- Carlos Thomas Jr.
- Akim Williams
After each man was introduced to the crowd in attendance and the audience watching from home on the live stream, the judges grouped the competitors for comparisons. The callouts went as follows.
Callout 1
- Akim Williams
- Andrew Jacked
- Samson Dauda
- Derek Lunsford
- Brandon Curry
- William Bonac
Callout 2
- Justin Rodriguez
- Patrick Moore
- Shaun Clarida
- James Hollingshead
- Carlos Thomas Jr.
- Hussameddin
Callout 3
- Andrew Jacked
- Samson Dauda
- Derek Lunsford
- Brandon Curry
Callout 4
- James Hollingshead
- William Bonac
- Akim Williams
- Shaun Clarida
Callout 5
- Derek Lunsford
- Andrew Jacked
- Samson Dauda
Commentary
Head judge Steve Weinberger had the two favorites in the center of the first call-out. Dauda and Lunsford went to propose while flanked by Curry on their right and Jacked on their left. Williams and Bonac rounded out the first group.
A second call-out featured the rest of the competitors. Clarita and Hollinghead were in the middle.
Returning for the third callout were Jacked, Dauda, Lunsford, and Curry, in that order. Lunsford had the conditioning but could not answer Dauda’s size. Weinberger put the presumed top four through two rounds of posing.
Hollingshead, Bonac, Williams, and Clarida were the next four to take center stage. They went through multiple rounds of posing. Williams started beside Bonac in the middle, but Clarida eventually replaced him.
Weinberger reserved the final callout for the two most recent Olympia champions, Dauda and Lunsford, and added Jacked to the mix. Each athlete took their turn in the middle. These are the top three after pre-judging.
Finals on Saturday Night
The Arnold Classic is a two-night event. The finals will be held in the same room on Saturday, March 1. The champion will be crowned at the end of the evening.
BarBend will provide a full recap of the finals from Columbus once the champion receives his trophy and the $500,000 first-place prize purse.
Fans can go to the Arnold Sports website to register for the free live stream to watch the bodybuilding history bound to be made in Columbus.
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