2007 Amateur Women's World Bodybuilding, Fitness and Bodyfitness Championships

September 21-23, 2007 - by Gene X Hwang

Santa Susanna, Spain - The World Capital of Fitness, Santa Susanna, Spain once again hosted the Amateur Womens World Bodybuilding, Fitness and Bodyfitness championships and nearly 200 athletes from around the world participated.

As has often been the case of late, many of the Eastern European countries dominated and much like the World Cup, it was Europe and South America who dominated with Russia taking the team title followed by Slovakia and Brazil coming in third. Spain and Italy completed the top five respectively.

In bodybuilding it was a repeat for Russian phenom Elena Shportun who this year looked even tighter than when she won the heavyweight class in 2006.  She beat Brazil's Larissa Cunha who outmuscled her as did Germany's Simone Linay.  Both looked quite impressive with differing physiques from Shportun's more strealined look.

In fourth was fellow Russian Alevtina Goroshinskaya followed by Lithuanian Alina Cepurniene who looked like the smallest in the heavyweight class and German Andrea Decker completed the top six.  With only two classes the heavies included 28 athletes, 13 of which were eliminated including American Tracy Beckham, Sweden's Lena Hedblad, Croatian Miljana Pavkovic and Trinidad and Tobago's Candice Carr.

Hedblad was very well conditioned and carried a lot of muscle while Carr also very muscular, but not quite as hard as she needed to be.  Pavkovic also had problems with her conditioning but with her incredible shape, always looks impressive.  Beckham will move on to the pro ranks now after being the overall champion at the 2007 Team Universe earlier this year.

Other notable heavies included Finland's Inkeri Salminen who carries a lot of muscle and has a wonderful physique.  Her conditioining was the only thing holding her back from a higher placing which was also the case for Olga Guryeva, another impressive Russian.  Guryeva said she plans to come back again next year and should be a threat to make the top six. 

Anne-Grethe Torgersen looked the best she has looked recently but her tan at prejudging was a bit light and may have contributed to her placing, while Canadian Maria Mikola was very tight and full and also probably should have placed higher.

The lightweight class (up to 55 kg)  was smaller with 16 athletes, and only one getting cut. The competition in the class, however, was very competitive and Jana Purdjakova from Slovakia won out on her shape, while Italy's Rosita Trigila was the most vascular competitor.  She looked incredible and beat Irina Muntean who had the best shape of the class, while Canada's Johanna Dejager took fourth looking very crisply conditioned and tight throughout.

Lisandra Marcano from Venezuela is someone to keep  an eye on too.  With great shape and very thick muscles, she can improve her placings by coming in a bit tighter.  The top American placer in all categories was Jodi Miller who placed 13th in the lightweights.

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In fitness, it was incredibly close judging in the short class (up to 163 cm).  Two points separated the top three competitors with Ukranian Margarita Byelinska winning the class on 42 points.  In second was Russian Vera Egorova on 43 points, and Brazilian Loana Muttoni was third at 44 points. Muttoni won both physique rounds, but got third in the routine round although she had one of the most high energy routines in the group.

Fellow Brazilian Diana Paula Monteiro took fourth, while Dagmar Pasternakova was fifth.  Pasternakova had a very creative routine that was one of the best of the competition.  Completing the top six was Russian Anna Mekhnina. Perhaps the most overlooked physique in the class was that of Nicole Warburg of South Africa.  Showcasing an impressive midsection and well-balanced physique, she ended up in 10th place, but should have been placed higher.  Italian Manuela Di Lauro also had a nice look with a strong physique and ended up in eighth place. 

In the tall class, Czech Jana Stockelova beat out Antonella Ferretti who has won the class in previous years. Evgeniya Filyanina of Russia took third and Canadian Marnie Holley took fourth.  Holley looked fantastic with an incredibly powerful and dynamic routine, and could have placed higher.  She was followed by Ukrainian Tetiana Bielousova and Lithuanian Tatiana Tishenko in fifth and sixth places respectively.

Finland's Minna Pajulahti placed seventh with an energetic routine that reflected her background competing internationally in cheerleading competitions.Xinfeng Wang of China also had an entertaining routine that featured nunchucks which are always cool to see - paired with some martial arts moves.  Marta Aguiar showcased some impressive power moves in her routine and Slovakian Barbora Byncakova was one of the most striking looking athletes in the show.

Bodyfitness was tough to judge with such a range of physiques.  In the shorter classes, they seemed to go with shape while in the two taller classes, the more muscular women seemed to do well. Of course taller athletes have to carry more muscle, but the general muscularity of some of the top finishers in the tall classes looked much more obvious during the overall judging of the class winners.

In the end, of all four classes and the top six finalists in those classes, seven were from Spain, five from Slovaki a and three a piece from Italy and Russia.  The overall champion was from the tall class - Russia's Yulia Zabelina.  

Making big strides were Greek competitor Eleni Kritikopoulou who looked more musuclar this year, but also very well conditioned - enough to place second in a very tough 'up to 163 cm.' class.  Other athletes that looked good were Julia Castellanos - one of the many Spaniards in the competition, and Paula Svecova from Slovakia. 

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Check out our message boards to discuss the show, post your thoughts and chat with athletes from the competition!   

Results

Bodybuilding Overall:  Elena Shportun* Lightweights 1) Jana Purdjakova - Slovakia 2) Rosita Trigila - Italy 3) Irina Munteen - Romania 4) Johanna Dejaeger - Canada 5) Zdena Nazarejova - Slovakia 6) Felisa Gonzalez - Spain 7) Patricia Helena - Brazil 8) Lisandra Marcano - Venezuela 9) Bianca Sieberichs - Netherlands 10) Nataliya Dichkovska - Ukraine 11) Marina Lemenovskaya - Russia 12) Zhang Ping - China 13) Jodi Miller - USA 14) Branka Njegovec - Croatia 15) Ritsuko Era - Japan Eliminated: Christine Sorribes - France Heavyweights 1) Elena Shportun - Russia 2) Larissa Cunha - Brazil 3) Simone Linay - Germany 4) Alevtina Goroshinskaya - Russia 5) Aline Cepurniene - Lithuania 6) Andrea Decker - Germany 7) Skadi Frei - Germany 8) Olga Guryeva - Russia 9) Marina Gusmini - Italy 10) Erika Taksony - Hungary 11) Elena Stasiukyniene - Lithuania 12) Nidia Hermosilla - Paraguay 13) Anne-Grethe Torgersen - Norway 14) Maria Mikola - Canada 15) Inkeri Salminen - Finland Eliminated:  - Ludmila Cizova - Czech Rep.  - Darina Kanova - Czech Rep.  - Lena Hedblad - Sweden  - Florina Visan - Romania  - Sonia Cabre - Spain  - Roser Hernandez - Spain  - Miljana Pavkovic - Croatia  - Candice Carr - Trinidad & Tobago  - Liew Lee Ting - Singapore  - Aki Nishimoto - Japan  - Tracy Lynn Beckham - USA  - Branislava Jovanovic - Serbia * eligible for IFBB Pro Status Pro Fitness 1) Rosi Mena** 2) Myriam Capes** 3) Stephanie Worsfold** 4) Vlasta Gruberova 5) Kendra Elias 6) Sandra Wickham ** qualifies for 2007 Olympia

Amateur Fitness Overall:  Jana Stockelova* 163 cm and under 1) Margaryta Byelinska - Ukraine 2) Vera Egorova - Russia 3) Loana Paula Muttoni - Brazil 4) Diana Paula Monteiro - Brazil 5) Dagmar Pasternakova - Czech Rep. 6) Anna Mekhnina - Russia 7) Florina Cernat - Romania 8) Manuela Di Lauro - Italy 9) Olga Votchal - Kazahkstan 10) Nicole Warburg - South Africa 11) Maria Laura Cerbelli - Argentina 12) Malgorzata Plaza - Poland 13) Dinah Salazar - Venezuela 14) Apiporn Chomsomboon - Thailand Eliminated:  - Gezer Gulsen - Turkey  - Bircan Sahilli - Turkey  - Lara Goedhart - Netherlands Over 163 cm 1) Jana Stockelova - Czech Rep. 2) Antonella Ferretti - Italy 3) Evgeniya Filyanina - Russia 4) Marnie Holley - Canada 5) Tetiana Bielousova - Ukraine 6) Tatiana Tishenko - Lithuania 7) Minna Pajulahti - Finland 8) Marta Aguiar - Uruguay 9) Xinfeng Wang - China 10) Barbora Byncakova - Slovakia 11) Susanna Cacabieli - Argentina 12) Ana Maria Zvinca - Romania 13) Valeria Cristine Aprobato - Brazil 14) Jolanda Nomen - Netherlands Bodyfitness Overall: Yulia Zabelina* 158 cm and under 1) Anna Tasputnyak - Russia 2) Natalia Revajova Lenartova - Slovakia 3) Yolanda Esteso - Spain 4) Martina Tarkova - Slovakia 5) Agnese Russo - Italy 6) Marisa Lopez - Spain 7) Valentina Zabiyaka - Estonia 8) Juliette Velazquez - Spain 9) Beatriz Gomez - Spain 10) Tulay Caner - Germany 11) Julia Castellanos - Spain 12) Ana Blanco - Spain 13) Elina Evgenyeva - Russia 14) Valeria Perez - Argentina 15) Hilda Tersanszki - Romania Eliminated:  - Magda Lipinska - United Kingdom  - Andreja Podnar - Croatia  - Bibiana Jiminez - Puerto Rico  - Nathalie Chabbert - France 163 cm 1) Katarina Verbovska - Slovakia 2) Eleni Kritikopoulou - Greece 3) Nelli Tsyshkevich - Russia 4) Cristina Menini - Italy 5) Montse Ventura - Spain 6) Jaana Kotkansalo - Finland 7) Marta Welke - Poland 8) Silvia Pauliskova - Slovakia 9) Ana Rebecca Rubio - Guatemala 10) Roontawan Jindasing - Thailand 11) Satu Korhonen - Finland 12) Vanessa Oliveira - Brazil 13) Carina Isaksson - Sweden 14) Victoria Podoprigora - Russia 15) Shalmieno Paper - U.K. Eliminated:  - Alejandra Rosa - Argentina  - Tamara Riberio - Trinidad & Tobago  - Aras Serpil - Turkey  - Helen Turley - Guatemala  - Victoria Gutenco - Moldova  - Dominique Pujo - Canada  - Lauren Arnold - Canada  - Georgeta Boerescu - Romania  - Paula Svecova - Slovakia  - Laura Saccomanin - Paraguay  - Charmaine Erasmus - S. Africa  - Katalin Borka - Hungary 168 cm 1) Glauce Ferreira - Brazil 2) Larissa Reis - Brazil 3) Gabriella Kubesova - Czech Rep. 4) Carmen Galasso - Italy 5) Mirian Sanchez - Spain 6) Cecilia Benjaminson - Sweden 7) Olga Stepanyuk - Russia 8) Katarzyna Kozakiewicz - Poland 9) Irina Molokova - Russia 10) Ingrida Blagusauskaite - Lithuania 11) Zdenka Gottvaldova - Czech Republic 12) Christel Lingh - Sweden 13) Irma Silvia Perez Gil - Spain 14) Eva Rudolfova - Czech Rep. 15) Natalia Mikhaylova - Russia Eliminated:  - Natalya Sedykh - Ukraine  - Heidrun Sigurdardottir - Iceland  - Elena Modoveanu - Romania  - Natalya Ovseichuk - Kazahkstan  - Nicole Wilkins - USA  - Kelli Johnson - Australia  - Carlotta Nori - Italy  - Jana Rovnanova - Slovakia  - Marie-Pierre Ripert - France  - Natalie Waples - Canada over 168cm 1) Yulia Zabelina - Russia 2) Sona Kopcokova - Slovakia 3) Maribel Barnes Escudero - Spain 4) Evie Mansen - Spain 5) Jaqueline Costa - Spain 6) Alica Kavuljakova - Slovakia 7) Victoria Belolipetskaya - Belarus 8) Nina Sundvold Moe - Norway 9) Maria Azabo - Romania 10) Marlene Koekemoer - S. Africa 11) Nora Maria Kovacs - Hungary 12) Patrycja Kozyra - Poland 13) Marina Luisa Martins - Brazil 14) Agnieszka Szwankowska - Poland 15) Ethel Heredia - Uruguay Eliminated:  - Ann Marie Lasserre - Australia  - Natalia Barannik - Russia  - Siobhan Wright - Canada * eligible for IFBB Pro Status