2016 Vancouver Pro/Am Coverage!

July 9-10, 2016

Vancouver, BC, Canada - Pros invaded western Canada over the weekend to compete at the Vancouver Convention Center for the 2016 Vancouver Pro-Am, of which, the "Am" portion included the British Columbia Amateur Body Building Association's (BCABBA) Provincial championships.  Competitors in every category of physique competition took the stage fighting to Olympia and Nationals qualifications.
This was the second year for this show, promoted by IFBB Pro Michelle Krack and was the first year to include the Provinicial Championships.

The BCABBA Provincial Championships showcased some impressive physiques and notables included Physique A class winner Colby Whelpton who has nice muscularity and thickness throughout - we expect her to do well at Nationals in a few weeks. In the Open B class Jill Foley had the best routine and won the best poser award.  Her physique packs on a lot of muscle and if she comes in a shade tighter in the future should move up in placing.

Amateur figure athletes also impressed us with many looking good and making it tough on the judges.  In the masters 35-44 class Jasmine Foltyn, Kate Joyal and Tiffany Baker all impressed us.

In the Open classes we took note of Shauna Marie, Christine Wallace and Bree Balaski who all had standout physiques.

The Vancouver Pro competition had six fitness athletes competing but a few former fitness competitors were competing in the Women's Physique competition including overall champion Mindi O'Brien and Jodi Boam.

Their fitness backgrounds were evident in their routines and O'Brien's presentation was quite moving with great transitions and creative poses choreographed impeccably to her music.  Paired with a physique that was conditioned just right and awesome stage presence, O'Brien was a very deserving winner, cementing her place at the Olympia later this year.

Second went to rising pro star, Eleonora Dobrinina from Ontario who always looks like she's having a blast on stage.  With crisp conditioning, fantastic glutes and a lot of energy on stage, Dobrinina keeps improving and likely will challenge for a title soon enough.

Third went to Lisa Stark followed by Mi Hyun Jung of South Korea.

Look out for the buzz on Jung as she's got great stage presence and we had a nice shoot with her after the show.  The country has produced notable physique competitors like Yeon Woo Jhi and Jung is following along and making splashes.  Her routine was really high energy and her creativity and fun posing included some neat moves like shown below.  She has a promising future and we look forward to seeing more of her in future competitions.

Rounding out the top five was former bodybuilder Carmena Tocheniuk and Ontario's Carol Hanley took sixth.

In Pro Fitness the routines were really entertaining and prove once again why it may be the toughest category to compete in (which is probably why the number of competitors seems to keep dwindling :( ).  Check out the routine shots below for a good sampling of the energy and fitness skills on display!

Results

Vancouver Pro Championships WOMEN's PHYSIQUE 1) Mindi O’Brien 2) Eleonora Dobrinina 3) Lisa Stark 4) Mi Hyun Jung 5) Carmen Tocheniuk 6) Carol Hanley 7) Tamara Qureshi 8) Jodi Boam 9) Leah Johnson 10) Jeni Briscoe 11) Tannaz Malekzadeh 12) Branka Njegovec 13) Roxanne Edwards 14) Michelle Mcbeth 15) Sheri Mcknight 16) Cat Lopez 17) Casey Stone IFBB Pro Fitness 1) Dominique Matthews 2) Jeanine Taddeo 3) Chika Aluka 4) Kim Scoffins 5) Debbie Clark IFBB PRO FIGURE 1) Jessica Reyes Padilla 2) Azaria Glaim 3) Janaina Ferreira 4) Melissa Bumstead 5) Emily Zelinka 6) Veronica Gallego 7) Bruna Miyagui 8) Sara Ard 9) Codi Jaeger 10) Kristina Dybdahl-Farnsworth 11) Julie Mayer 12) Darcy Defrees 13) Kalli Youngstrom 14) Marie Natalie Janik 15) Angie Lemay 16) Agnese Russo 17) Laura Donegan 17) Kassie Kemmis

BCABBA Provincials Women's Physique 1) 4) 5) Masters Physique 1)  2) 3) 4) 5) Women's Bodybuilding 1)