Brandon Curry went into the 2022 Arnold Classic with hopes of joining Kevin Levrone, Flex Wheeler, Jay Cutler, Kai Greene, Dexter Jackson, Branch Warren, and WIlliam Bonac as the only multi-time Arnold winners in the 34-year history of the contest. Not only did he do it, but he had to hold off a very competitive Bonac in the process.
Curry and Bonac had to go through two complete comparisons before a winner could be determined. Curry also won the Ed Corney Best Poser award while Bonac won the Franco Columbu Most Muscular award. Aside from those honors, Curry also won the $200,000 first place prize money and a lot of momentum going into the 2022 Olympia, where he hopes to regain the title from Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay.
Third place went to Steve Kuclo for the second year in a row. Coming in fourth was the very impressive Samson Dauda, and Justin Rodriguez rounded out the top five.
2022 Arnold Classic Division Winners
Between Friday and Saturday night, six other pro division titles were up for grabs, including the anticipated matchup in Classic Physique between Terrence Ruffin, Breon Ansley, and Urs Kalecinski. Ruffin would emerge victorious and is now a back-to-back 2021 and 2022 Arnold Classic Physique champion. Ramon Rocha Queiroz actually upset both Ansley and Kalecinski for second place in that division.
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In Men’s Physique, Erin Banks and Emmanuel Hunter went back and forth in both prejudging and the finals on March 5. In the end, Banks earns his first Arnold title, and now sets his sights on defending Olympia champion Brandon Hendrickson.
Four women divisions were also contested in the Batelle Grand Ballroom. The biggest upset was in Fitness where Ariel Khadr defeated reigning Fitness International champion Missy Truscott to win her first Arnold championship. Truscott finished as the runner-up.
There was no doubt that Cydney Gillon was going to take care of the Figure International contest. She now has two of those to go along with her five Olympia titles, and she plans to defend that this December in Las Vegas.
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After several times as the runner-up at major contests, Lauralie Chapados finally won her first title and is now 2022 Bikini International champion. Maureen Blanquisco, Ashley Kaltwasser, Elisa Pecini, and Jourdanne Lee rounded out the top five.
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In the new Wellness division, Isabelle Nunes became the first Arnold Wellness champion. In a close contest, she edged out 2021 Olympia runner-up Angela Borges.
