2014 CrossFit Games Winner Camille Leblanc-Bazinet is “Officially a Bodybuilder”
For fans of CrossFit, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet needs no introduction, but she certainly deserves one. The tenured competitor of eight CrossFit Games, including an overall win in 2014, recently turned her gaze towards a very different physical pursuit — professional bodybuilding.
On Oct. 2, 2021, Leblanc-Bazinet competed in the Bikini division of the 2021 NPC Daytona Beach Classic. She logged a second-place finish in Class A, earning a spot at the NPC National Championships, taking place from Dec. 17-18.
What’s more, Leblanc-Bazinet stepped onto a bodybuilding stage almost exactly one year after giving birth to her first child, Zoe. While Games athletes are instantly recognizable for their shredded physiques, Camille is something of a pioneer in terms of transitioning away from high-level CrossFit and towards the aesthetically demanding rigors of bodybuilding.
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2021 Daytona Pro — NPC Bikini Results
Here are the complete results from the open Bikini division, pulled from NPC News Online. Note: Classes are broken up by height.
- Class A: Up to and including 5’1″
- Class B: Over 5’1” and up to and including 5’2”
- Class C: Over 5’2” and up to and including 5’3”
- Class D: Over 5’3” and up to and including 5’4”
Class A
- Julie Ann Bacon
- Camille Leblanc-Bazinet
- Maria Alejandra Herrera
- Ryan Martin
- Jenya Kapul
- Calinda Pagan
Class B
- Angelina Lovalente
- Heather Rickard
- Elise Sabatino
- Allyssa Adkisson
- Ruth Vizcaino
- Alexis Daz
- Sabrina Smith
Class C
- Marissa Rullo*
- Vanessa Kollcaku
- Kerri Hill
- Jessica Foster
- Kiana Dupre
- Julianna Monroe
- Lisa Jeanmaire
- Jessica Sealy
Class D
- Savannah Sams
- Hayley Conley
- Gracie Swingle
- Autumn Butler
- Victoria Ojeda
*Marissa Rullo won the overall, meaning she was the top Bikini competitor out of all of the classes.
How the Bikini Division is Judged
One of Leblanc-Bazinet’s many tasks when moving out of the performance-centric space of CrossFit involved adapting herself as an athlete to a whole new set of competitive criteria.
Instead of being measured by objective, metric-based benchmarks — how fast she can run, how far she can push a sled, how heavy she can snatch — Camille instead had to turn her attention to getting top marks on a more subjective scorecard.
As a bikini athlete specifically, Leblanc-Bazinet has to have solid conditioning. Contrary to CrossFit, “conditioning” in the context of bodybuilding refers to the athlete’s body fat level, muscle definition, and how “soft” or “hard” their physique looks visually. The ladies in the bikini division are also graded on the elegance of their stage walk, in addition to their complexion and general stage presence.
The Power of Performance
Fortunately for the 2014 Fittest Woman on Earth, coming to the bodybuilding stage with enough muscle was a walk in the park. This was likely due in no small part to her years of dedicated resistance training during her CrossFit career.
Leblanc-Bazinet made her stage debut with round, capped deltoids — probably owed to the amount of heavy overhead work found in nearly every CrossFit workout or event.
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Bikini competitors are also judged on leg development, another area Leblanc-Bazinet already has her bases covered in. In CrossFit, even upper-body focused workouts tend to incorporate full-body movements, which undoubtedly boosted the appearance of her quads and calves without having to rely on a specific bodybuilding program.
What the Future Holds
While CrossFit and bodybuilding training are typically diametrically opposed, the benefits reaped from years of high-intensity training in the gym and on the competition field seemed to have paid dividends for Camille as she pivots toward a sport that scrutinizes muscularity.
While LeBlanc-Bazinet has likely retired from CrossFit, she seems fired up to pursue her newfound passion in bodybuilding. In an Instagram post shortly after her stage appearance, Leblanc-Bazinet made clear her intent by stating she is “officially a bodybuilder now.”
If her achievements in CrossFit are anything to go by, we might just be seeing her on the biggest stage in bodybuilding sooner rather than later.
Featured Image: @camillelbaz on Instagram