Troy Alves has done a lot in his career, but finally after 7 long years of struggle and 24 competitions, he won the first professional title in his career by being the first at the opening Europa Show of Champions. For quite some time people had been losing faith in him, and Alves’ coming out 11th in the Ironman Pro two months ago didn’t help change their cynicism. But recently Troy Alves signed up for the Europa Show of Champions without much conviction.
However, when it was time for showdown in Florida, Alves, 42, amazed us all by showing the prime condition of his career; it felt like we had travelled back in time and was witnessing a younger rookie Alves who had placed 8th at the 2003 Olympia.
Hidetada Yamagishi, who had improved a lot since the last competition, and Darrem Charles, were Alves’ toughest competitors. Yamagishi entered with an enhanced physique that reminded us of the 2007 Yamagishi, who had placed 13th in the Olympia of that year. Whereas, Charles wasn’t too much impressive because he wasn’t in his perfectly chiseled physique, for which he is most known for; but this isn’t new, because for the last few years, he has been competing in the first tournament of the season without much training. Even with Charles’ lack of seriousness he came out third place, with Yamagishi emerging the runner-up.
Sergey Shelestov and Frederic Sauvage came out 4th and 5th places respectively.
Figure Final Report
The second year pro Nicole Wilkins-Lee clinched the first victory of her career, and this has seen a rise in the pro figure and fitness ranks for her. Wilkins-Lee participates in professional figure and fitness competitions, and she came out 9th in the 2008 Figure Olympia and 8th in the 2009 Arnold Classic.
Behind Wilkins-Lee, Heather Mae French and Monica Brant emerged 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Fitness Final Report
Shannon Meteraud, who had recently won the New York Pro Fitness Championship for the first time in his career, won again in Orlando. The second place went to Myriam Capes and the third place went to Mindi O’Brien.
