2026 Mr. Olympia Open Bodybuilding Prejudging Report

The wait is finally over. Las Vegas welcomed the 2026 Mr. Olympia from September 24-27. Men’s Open competitors sized each other up during prejudging on September 25, which began at 6 pm (PDT) inside the Orleans Arena. 

Heading into the event, the rivalry between Derek Lunsford and Andrew Jacked gained steam. Chris Aceto coaches them both, but only one can walk away with the Sandow trophy. Earning bronze at last year’s Olympia, Jacked has yet to drop placings at the prestigious event. While Hadi Choopan withdrew from the contest this year, that left room for other contenders to fill the void. 

Samson Dauda aimed to reclaim Olympia glory after dropping to fourth last season. He used his time away from the stage to regain the size he lost in pursuit of drier conditioning. Meanwhile, fans expected Nick Walker to break into contention, especially after his all-time best Tampa Pro package shook up the division. Martin Fitzwater was another wildcard on everyone’s radar and has placed as high as fourth at the Olympia.

In the final callout, Derek Lunsford‘s freaky back detail and thickness helped him stay near the center. Samson Dauda looked dramatically improved from last year and pushed the champ through multiple callouts. Andrew Jacked was in the running and brought a dry, crisp look that judges have asked for. Nick Walker also showed better midsection control, especially between poses. It’s anyone’s title heading into tomorrow night’s finals! 

2026 Mr. Olympia Pre-Judging Callouts

First Callout

• Andrew Jacked 
• Tonio Burton 
• Michal Krizo 
• Samson Dauda 
• Nick Walker
• Derek Lunsford 

Second Callout 

• Jordan Hutchinson
• Martin Fitzwater 
• Regan Grimes 
• James Hollingshead 
• Brandon Curry 
• Behrooz Tabani Abarghani 

Third Callout

• Leandro Sencini Peres
• Mohamed Foda 
• Quinton Eriya 
• Sasan Heirati 
• William Bonac 
• Edward Kargbo 

Fourth Callout 

• Damian Kuffel 
• Sergey Danilov 
• Patrick Moore 
• Andrea Presti 

Fifth Callout 

• Tonio Burton 
• Michal Krizo 
• Regan Grimes
• Brandon Curry 

Final Callout 

• Andrew Jacked 
• Samson Dauda 
• Nick Walker
• Derek Lunsford 

Highlights: 

2026 Mr. Olympia Recap:

Every division as it was crowned is on our 2026 Mr. Olympia live updates page, and the full placings for all 12 divisions are in our Olympia database. Every champion, top five and prize payout is in our 2026 Mr. Olympia results, and here is who the experts picked before the show.