Euro Elite Tour, Part II

Flex, May, 2008 by James Riley

The second annual Euro Elite autumn tour featured top bodybuilders from Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Spain. The following is a roundup of the action at two of the 2007 Euro Elite Tour contests, in Blagoveshchensk, Russia, and Marseille, France. See last month's FLEX for results from the other two contests of this exciting, world-class competition--held in Kaliningrad, Russia, and Tallinn, Estonia.

* Blagoveshchensk, Russia While many of the Euro Tour contestants were competing in Tallinn, Estonia, the Russian team was onstage farther east--in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. Originally intended as the third in a series of Elite Tour events that would occur in Russia (the first two taking place in Kaliningrad and lvanovo [Moscow]), this event was moved up on the schedule after the Moscow contest was cancelled. The changes resulted in two Elite Tour shows being held on November 10, in Blagoveshchensk and Tallinn.

Sponsored by the Amur Regional Bodybuilding Federation, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2007, the Blagoveshchensk Elite Tour stop included men's open bodybuilding and women's open fitness. There were 10 bodybuilders and five fitness competitors, and the action was exclusively a Russian drama.

Three of the division winners at the 2007 European Amateur Championships, Pavel Kirilenko (super heavyweight and overall), Dmitri Klimov (light heavyweight) and Nikolay Chernetsky (welterweight) battled against super-heavyweight Oleg Emelyanov and master bodybuilder Vyacheslav Burenkov, as well as Yuri Leonov.

As happened in Tallinn, the top position was not really in play. Kirilenko easily captured the win with perfect scores. The fight to fill out the top five was more interesting, with Emelyanov coming up short against a finely cut-up Burenkov, who took second. Similarly, Klimov and the massive Leonov battled for the fourth and fifth spots, with Klimov coming out ahead.

On the fitness side, 2007 World fitness runner-up Vera Egorova also earned perfect scores in all three rounds, a hat trick that gave her a clear win. Two women were in close contention for the runner-up spot: Anna Mekhnina, 2007 European and World junior fitness champion, and Tatiana Tishchenko, a new Russian star and a World Championships finalist who had earlier in 2007 represented Lithuania. In the end, Mekhnina took second. Junior competitors Nina Smirnova and Yana Ryabova took fourth and fifth places, respectively.

* Marseille, France The conclusion to the 2007 Elite Tour was held here at the Palais des Congres of the Parc Chanot. A crowd of 1,200 turned out for the contest, which started late at night on November 17 and concluded at half-past midnight the next day. Promoted by Weider Fitness France, this event boasted not only 22 Elite Tour athletes--the longest lineup of the autumn series--but also special guests Silvio Samuel, Vince Taylor and Regiane Silva.

Robert Piotrkowicz continued his string of successes, decisively winning his third Elite event and reaching the pinnacle of this edition of the Elite Tour. In 2007, Piotrkowicz's only loss, to Kirilenko, came at an Elite Tour spring contest in Odessa, Ukraine; but, having won a close battle with Kirilenko at the Kaliningrad event, and with the Russian champion not participating in Marseille, Piotrkowicz stepped onstage at this event as the uncontested 2007 Elite Tour series champion.

Second place in Marseille went to Lukas Osladil, whose ascension through the ranks through the course of the Elite Tour earned him a great amount of recognition. Dimitar Dimitrov of Bulgaria took third, ahead of Bogdan Szczotka. Arkadius Szyderski rounded out the top five. This super-heavyweight runner-up from the World Championships in Jeju had lost a bit of his top condition and, as a result, finished 12th in Kaliningrad. Regaining his sharpness over the weeks of the tour, Szyderski captured fifth in Tallinn, then repeated this placing in Marseille.

Of the Russians who last battled in Blogoveshchensk, only Emelyanov made it to Marseille, where he settled for eighth place.

The next round of Euro Elite contests is scheduled to commence on May 9 in Odessa, Ukraine.

For the most current information related to the IFBB, including contest reports, rule changes, press releases and updates, visit the IFBB Professional League online at if bbpro.com.

COMPILED BY JAMES RILEY

2007 ELITE TOUR

Blagoveshchensk, Russia; November 10, 2007

COMPETITOR             COUNTRY

MEN'S OPEN BODYBUILDING
1 Pavel Kirilenko      Russia
2 Vyacheslav Burenkov  Russia
3 Oleg Emelyanov       Russia
4 Dmitri Klimov        Russia
5 Yuri Leonov          Russia

WOMEN'S FITNESS
1 Vera Egorova         Russia
2 Anna Mekhnina        Russia
3 Tatiana Tishchenko   Russia
4 Nina Smirnova        Russia
5 Yana Ryabova         Russia

2007 ELITE TOUR

Marseille, France: November 17, 2007

COMPETITOR             COUNTRY

 1 Robert Piotrkowicz  Poland
 2 Lukas Osladil       Czech Republic
 3 Dimitar Dimitrov    Bulgaria
 4 Bogdan Szczotka     Poland
 5 Arkadius Szyderski  Poland
 6 Corrado Maggiore    Italy
 7 Dennis Biusto       Italy
 8 Oleg Emelyanov      Russia
 9 Thomas Scheu        Germany
10 Arturo Castaneda    Spain