female bodybuilders, fitness models, figure athletes - photo galleries, pictures and HD video clips - female muscle, flexing biceps - GeneX Magazine - Tracey Toth, Marja Lehtonen, Nekole Hamrick

Wings of Strength Texas Pro and Rising Phoenix Championships
2015 Wings of Strength Texas Pro, Rising Phoenix World Championships and Tim Gardner Texas Extravaganza

Aug. 21-22, 2015

Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships photos

San Antonio, TX - This year there may be no Ms. Olympia, but instead, the Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships took it's place and in doing so also presented one of the biggest purses in all of bodybuilding with a $115,000 prize awaiting the first place champion in the form of $50,000 in cash and a custom Jeep valued at over $65,000.

San Antonio hosted this first-time event and promoter extraordinaire Tim Gardener teamed up with Wings of Strength to put on the show, which was also part of a bigger weekend that included the Wings of Strength Texas Pro (Masters Women's Bodybuilding, Pro Figure, Masters Figure and Pro Women's Physique and Masters Physique) as well as the NPC Tim Gardener Texas Extravaganza National Qualifier.

Much of the buzz though was about how this show had such a big prize pool for the female bodybuilders (more than the Ms. Olympia had when it was running). In fact, the womens cash prize for first was five times that of the IFBB Pro Men's first place check - perhaps an unprecedented occasion (I'm sure IFBB Women's Historian Steve Wennestrom would know the answer).

A total of 15 IFBB Pro women took the stage to battle it out for the Jeep and $50,000 and in the end it was a heated battle between Helle Neilsen and Margie Martin. Both were always in the middle during prejudging and the judges put the two, alongside Debi Laszewski, Yaxeni Oriquen and Alana Shipp through the ringer for about five or six rounds of comparisons - it was that close.

While the final scoresheet may show it being closer, it was a battle that could have gone either way with the judges rewarding Martin the overall title. Neilsen may have been better conditioned but the lines Martin showcased and her genetics overcame that. Neilsen will definitely be a threat in the future as she has consistently been showing up in top shape at her recent competitions and seems to only be improving.

Post show we caught up with her and said she had talked to the judges who said she could bring up her back to match her otherworldly lower body so she was already talking about how excited she was to get back to Gold's Venice to train back and cause an eclipse next year when she takes the stage casting a shadow over all the judges when she hits her first back shot!

Third and Fourth went to two veterans, Laszewski and Oriquen respectively. Laszewski had worked on tweaking her physique to bring a revamped look to the stage while Oriquen seems to have lost a bit of her edge coming in a little less full than previously. The top five was rounded out by another rising star, Alana Shipp, while another young pro, Aleesha Young, looked great in taking sixth with lots of thick muscle that she presented well.

Coming back around to the show itself, it was quite intense during prejuding knowing that first place was a $50,000 cash prize and the custom Jeep, whereas second got $25,000. $25K is nothing to sneeze at but the top prize was quite impressive and with the judges putting the top group through their paces for mutliple rounds of comparisons it almost felt like a heavyweight bout with Neilsen and Martin throwing poses for pose to see who could gain the edge.

Many thought they would be re-judged again at finals and indeed they were. The Finals had some nice touches and since this was the first year, you had to expect them to try things out to make an impression. The introductory volcano scene and reveal of all the competitors was pretty cool (see lead photo above). The volcano perhaps could have been more impressive but hey, the audience was there to see the physiques, not pyrotechnics.

Also when the athletes came out to do their routines, they all had an intro bumper. For some, it was a video montage, but for others, just their name. It would have been nice if they were all more consistent and similar in tone etc. The variances were more that not all the athletes chose to provide the content required for the video intros but perhaps it's something that can be tweaked for 2016?

Also on the the topic of other things that we'd love to see in 2016, for the special invites it would be nice if they could perhaps send out provisional special invites far enough ahead of the competiton so athletes could prep knowing they would be doing the show. It's kind of a catch-22 though since you want people to earn their spots through competing, but if there were specific athletes they wanted for sure that had any sort of issues making competitions, etc. they could provide a provisional special invite earlier in the year so they could prep etc. (Maybe even one for the overall NPC USA champion for example?)

There were far more positives though such as the great first class treatment the athletes got and a well run production. We only cite the above as ways to improve the Rising Phoenix World Championships and look forward to covering the 2016 edition!

Result

Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships
1) Margie Martin
2) Helle Neilsen
3) Debi Laszewski
4) Yaxeni Oriquen
5) Alana Shipp
6) Aleesha Young
7) Isabelle Turell
8) Rita Bello
9) Lisa Cross
10) Christine Envall
11) Shawna Strong
12) Virginia Sanchez
13) Monique Jones
14) Irene Anderson
15) Gillian Kovack

Wings of Strength Texas Pro

Women's Physique
1) Sheronica Henton
2) Mikaila Soto
3) Valerie Giovanoli
4) Andrea Holliday
5) Jessica Gaines
6) Vicki Diaz
7) Jennifer Robinson
8) Zoa Linsey
9) Jodi Leigh Miller
10) Anne Luise Freitas
11) Beni Bueno
12) Marnie Holley
13) Jill Livoti
14) Asha Hadley
15) Klaudia Larson
16) Kendel Dolen
16) Krystina Dybdahl-Farnsworth
16) Lenore Gregson
16) Kari Hartmann
16) Cathy Jackson
16) Leah Johnson
16) Tracy Mason
16) Amber McElreath
16) Akane Nigro-Ismeal
16) Claire O'Connell
16) Tye Pierpont
16) Lisa Marie Sanders
16) Stacy Simons McDowell
16) Trish Swander
16) Yasha
DNP) Star Blaylock
DNP) Desunka Dawson

Masters Women's Physique
1) Mikaila Soto
2) Vicki Diaz
3) Jennifer Robinson
4) Zoa Linsey
5) Jodi Leigh Miller
6) BENI BUENO
7) Jill Livoti
8) Klaudia Larson
9) Claire O'Connell
10) STACY SIMMONS-MCDOWELL
11) YASHA
12) KENDEL DOLEN
13) ROBIN GIZZI
14) PATRICIA VAZQUEZ
15) LENORE GREGSON
16) CATHY JACKSON
16) Tracy Mason
16) AMBER MCELREATH
16) TYE PIERPONT
16) LISA MARIE SANDERS
16) SABRINA SONNER
16) TRISH SWANDER

Fitness
1) Missy Terwilliger
2) Chika Aluka
3) Marta Aguilar
4) Donnice Christian
5) Mandy Polk
6) Debbie Fowler
7) Babette Mulford

Figure
1) JENNIFER TAYLOR
2) ANDRESSA RIBEIRO
3) IDALIA MOLINA
4) MAGGIE CAMBRONERO
5) RACHELLE CARTER
6) SUSANA GARCIA
7) BRUNA MIYAGUI
8) KATHERINE LANE
9) KIM CLARK
10) DIANA SCHNAIDT
11) B BARNETT
12) MARA BROWN
13) BRITTANY CAMPBELL
14) VALERIE PEQUENO
15) VANESSA JACOBS
16) YOLANDA ANTHONY
16) KENDRA BEASLEY
16) MARIA CARLONE RENNICKER
16) ANGELA DOUCETTE
16) FEDERICA GHEZZI
16) SELENDA PONS
16) TARA RAMOS
16) DENISE ROSE
16) REBECCA SCHUBECK
16) NICOLE STURTZE
16) CHELA GARCIA
DNP) VIVIANA BACA SERVIN

Masters Figure
1) JENNIFER TAYLOR
2) IDALIA MOLINA
3) SUSANA GARCIA
4) KIM CLARK
5) VANESSA JACOBS
6) FEDERICA GHEZZI
7) SELENA PONS
8) CHELA GARCIA
9) REBECCA SCHUBECK
10) DENISE ROSE
11) NICOLE STURTZE
12) YOLANDA ANTHONY
13) MARIA CARLONE RENNICKER

Tim Gardner Texas Extravaganza

Women's Physique
1)
2) Laurana Nall
3) Kayla Booker
4)
5)

Masters Physique
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Women's Bodybuilding
1)

Last updated: August 24, 2015 @ 4:32 p.m PT