The Men’s Open pose off at the 2023 Mr. Olympia sparked debate among bodybuilding fans over the rightful winner. With that in mind, IFBB Pro League Vice President Tyler Manion breaks down the scoring pose-for-pose for Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford in a recent Instagram post, setting the record straight once and for all.
“I’m going to review both Derek and Hadi obviously because it was a very close show between those two. I’m going to go pose by pose in detail and in depth to what we saw at the table,” shared Tyler Manion.
Men’s Open was one of the most anticipated categories to take the stage at the 2023 Mr. Olympia. Reigning champion Hadi Choopan came in looking for blood as he was determined to defend his title though his competitors had no intention of making that an easy feat.
Samson Dauda looked his absolute best following his win at the 2023 Arnold Classic. Having focused on his conditioning and aesthetics, Dauda brought the full package to the Olympia stage. Meanwhile, Derek Lunsford shined during his sophomore appearance on the Men’s Open stage having moved up from 212.
It was Lunsford’s shredded back and overall balanced physique that led him to take the crown this past weekend. Not only is he the new Mr. Olympia but he made history as the first bodybuilder to become a two-division champion.
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Tyler Manion Breaks Down Derek Lunsford V. Hadi Choopan At 2023 Olympia Pose By Pose
While his victory was that of legends, this decision has caused an uproar in the bodybuilding community. IFBB Pro League Vice President Tyler Manion clears the air by breaking down Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford pose-for-pose.
“Before I get into the breakdown, I want to dispel a certain notion that I always hear and keep hearing about you know and that’s the common expression of to beat the champ you have to knock him out. Now it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about Open or any other division and that is just a statement that I personally do not agree with.”
“We all judge at the table, it doesn’t matter if you have eight titles, it doesn’t matter if you have zero titles. The best person on that day, the person that we think best fits the criteria is who we’re going to put in first place. It doesn’t matter what their past history is. That is not taking into account what we’re looking for, we’re looking for what’s on stage in front of us that day and that’s all that matters.”
Front Double Bicep
“The first pose up is the front double biceps pose. As you see here with Derek, Derek improved his arms from last year. He improved his legs from last year. His quads, the overall density and sweep to his quads came up dramatically from last year. What we have to do is go look at pictures or videos of Derek from last year from Derek to this year.
Derek has a crazy crazy taper with crazy wide flaring lats all down into a very small waistline. His arms flow very proportionately with his body and his legs now have much more balance compared to his upper body.
Now we look at Hadi’s front double biceps pose. His arms flow pretty well with his physique but though I would argue here that Derek’s arms flow better with this pose. Hadi has a very good taper but next to Derek’s taper it is not as prominent. Hadi’s waist is wider and his lats are not as wide as Derek’s,” explained Tyler Manion.
“Hadi has an imbalance between his left and right quads. His sweep on his left side is more pronounced than his sweep on his right side. That is symmetry. So that is an imbalance and we take that into account as well.”
Front Lat Spread
“Next up is the front lat spread pose, as you can see Derek brought his arms and shoulders not only the size but the detail up from the arms and shoulders last year.”
“When you look at the V-taper here, you see Derek still does have a better V-taper than Hadi. However, when you go into the fullness and detail of the chest, Hadi still has an advantage.”
“The detail throughout Hadi’s core gives him the edge in this pose.”
“Derek took a pose that was not his strongest and made gains on it. However, this is still a pose that goes to Hadi.” “We’re looking at everything here in the side chest pose. We want to look at the width. Shoulder to shoulder up top. Detail of the size of the arms and the shoulders.”
“Derek improved this pose tremendously from last year,” said Manion. “This year, I thought it was clear that Derek took this pose.”
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Back Double Biceps
“Back double biceps pose, this was the clearest out of all the poses that Deeek wins this hands down.”
Back Lat Spread
For the back lat spread pose, Manion said the following:
“Derek’s back lat spread is still a very strong pose for him.” “Hadi also has a very strong back lat spread.
“He [Hadi] doesn’t have the same density from the back that Derek has.”
Side Triceps
“When you look at the waist, they both flow into a tight waist, however, Hadi has details throughout his serratus and abs that are more detailed than Derek’s.”
“Derek has a better flow from his shoulders to his arms,” said Manion. “Looking at this overall pose, Derek wins the side triceps.”
Ab And Thigh
“[ab and thigh] pose is an extremely strong shot for Hadi.”
Most Muscular
“Lastly, we have the most muscular pose.”
“This is another very strong pose for Hadi,” explains Manion. “This makes the score five poses for Derek, three for Hadi.”
For further insight into the nuances of this competitive world, explore the depths of bodybuilding divisions and the criteria for judging Men’s Open Bodybuilding competitions.
Tyler Manion Gives Thoughts On What Improvements Finishers #3-5 Need To Make For 2024 Mr. Olympia
Tyler Manion discussed the third through fifth finishers and what they can do to move up the ranks at next year’s Olympia.
Number 3 Samson Dauda
“Samson has improved from show to show and it’s very clear his improvements. What does Samson need to do? If theres’ one body part Samson can improve it’s his back.”
Number 4 Brandon Curry
“Fourth place Brandon Curry. Brandon looked great. This is probably the best he’s been conditioning-wise since 2019 which was his best year Now, of course everything didn’t go smoothly for him. I think he probably lost a little bit of size and separation, especially in his legs. That’s the number one thing he needs to work on bringing up – leg width.”
Number 5 Andrew Jacked
In fifth place we had Andrew Jacked. Now this definitely wasn’t the best version of Andrew we’ve seen. Obviously, I had the privilege of getting to judge him at the Texas Pro. In my opinion, that was the best look he brought to the stage. The look at the Olympia was not quite the same. He didn’t have the size and the fullness that he had there.”
“What he needs to improve on going forward, overall leg size for sure. Specifically, he really needs to focus on bringing up the hamstrings.”
Qualifying for the 2024 Mr. Olympia competition has become more challenging than in seasons of the past. Just before the 2023 Olympia show, Manion alongside the organization announced new rules for granting entry. Specifically, only the top three finishers from the Open receive automatic qualifications moving forward.
President and promoter for Mr. Olympia Dan Solomon recently revealed the date and location for the 2024 Mr. Olympia. Fans can look forward to seeing their favorite athletes take the stage next October 10-13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year showed that the bodybuilders are capable of massive improvements which guarantees next year won’t disappoint.
RELATED: Milos Sarcev, Jay Cutler Discuss Derek Lunsford vs Hadi Choopan 2023 Mr. Olympia Controversy
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