That was 1971. Early in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reign because the third Mr. Olympia, the run would proceed into the center of the last decade. That very same yr, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a younger bodybuilder named Jim Manion was competing as an novice bodybuilder and had simply received the title of Mr. Pittsburgh.
Quick ahead greater than 50 years later. Manion is now in the identical place because the Wade household, main the IFBB Professional League and founding father of the occasion he received, now generally known as the Pittsburgh Professional League. He hosted a number of of the bodybuilding world’s prime stars for a visitor posing present, together with Nick Walker, Andrew Jackard, Samson Dauda, Hunter Labrada, Martin Fitzwater, Urs. Kalesinski, Ramon “Dino” Quirioz, and present Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford.
A number of of the most important names and celebrities within the bodybuilding world got here collectively to rejoice the game and really feel the vitality within the room. Bob Cicherillo takes the rostrum. The gang included Olympia proprietor Jack Wooden, bodybuilding legends Flex Wheeler, George Farah and five-time Olympia Traditional Physique champion Chris Bumstead even made an look. The celebrities are out.
The Pittsburgh Professionals have lengthy been a staple on the bodybuilding calendar, particularly due to their visitor posing performances. Longtime followers will keep in mind Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler swapping pictures and using one another on stage. Others will keep in mind seeing nice performances from Phil Heath, Kai Inexperienced and Dennis Wolfe. Then, in 2016, Kevin Levrone shocked the world by telling a Pittsburgh crowd that he could be returning to compete in that yr’s Mr. Olympia competitors. The Pittsburgh Professional Sequence is the symbolic kickoff to the Olympia season.
The 2024 version meets the identical requirements. Lunsford has been working laborious within the offseason so he can enhance his health and win his first Sandow Trophy. This match is very essential for Lunsford, as his look because the Olympia 212 champion in 2022 earned him an invite to advance from 212 to that yr’s Olympia Open. He ended up ending runner-up to then-champion Hadi Chupan, displaying that the invitation was well-deserved.
Walker and Fitzwater are within the ultimate phases of preparation for the 2024 New York Professional Sequence, which takes place per week after the present. Dauda, Labrada and Jacked all look huge and highly effective, whereas Kalecinski and Querioz show the aggressive ardour wanted to face on the Olympia stage yearly.
Each gesture received bursts of cheers from the viewers. They knew they noticed one thing particular on that stage as a result of the following time many of those guys take the stage on the identical time it will likely be on a historic stage The 60th Annual Olympia Weekend takes place at the stunning Resorts World in Las Vegas, Nevada October 11-12. That is the place the street to Olympia ends. A pit cease on the Wyndham Grand in downtown Pittsburgh solely added gas to the hearth for athletes and followers alike. Now that they’ve seen their favourite champion in particular person, they begin debating and discussing who will take the Sandow Trophy in Vegas on Saturday night time.
Olympia President Dan Solomon was not in attendance in Pittsburgh as he has been working with the remainder of the Olympia group to make sure the 2024 occasion lives as much as the size and status of Health’s sixtieth Largest Weekend. He did specific his assist for the Manion household via an Instagram put up and thanked Pittsburgh athletes and followers.
“Tyler Manion lately introduced that Pittsburgh Professional will likely be changed into a full-scale expo with a serious manufacturing in 2025, which I’m very enthusiastic about,” he wrote. “This occasion will instantly remodel town of Pittsburgh right into a late spring ‘vacation spot occasion’ on the annual calendar, offering athletes, sponsors and exhibitors with an incredible alternative to achieve a strong new viewers. — Highway to Olympia Turns into Wanting ahead to this one!
2025 and past
Simply as Manion himself went from competitor to promoter of this system, he and his household are poised to take the Pittsburgh Professional Sequence to the following stage. Tyler Manion, Jim’s grandson and vice chairman of the IFBB Skilled League, took to the rostrum to announce that they’d be transferring the occasion to the Pittsburgh Conference Heart and including an expo in 2025. Getting greater and higher, however what stays the identical is that it’ll stay a logo of the trail Jim Manion has taken.
