In a historic 2009 NPC USA Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Championship on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mark Alvisi won the overall title and the pro card to go along with it. A popular winner, Alvisi was given the first of three pro cards, up from the two offered in recent years.
Long-suffering super-heavyweight Grigori Atoyan won his class (after taking second in national-level contests five times) and the evening’s second pro card. An emotional and relieved Atoyan dedicated his win to his late father.
An unprecedented third pro card was given to middleweight winner Daryl Gee, who arguably sported the most complete physique of the show. Gee has a bright future in the pro’s 202 ranks.
Left out of the pro card shuffle was light-heavyweight winner Tamer El-Guindy, who was the most ripped of all of the class winners and for whom a case for pro status could easily be made. He’s surely a favorite going into whichever pro qualifier he chooses next.
BIKINI Kristal Marshall, the Class F winner, is the inaugural NPC USA overall champion of the new bikini division. Michele D’Angona, Michelle Gullett, Amanda Latona, Jame Baird and Monique Minton are the other five pro card winners.
FIGURE In a field of over 200 competitors, Listy Allen walked away with the Class D and overall crown to become the 2009 NPC USA Figure champion. Akane Nigro-Ismeal, Candice Houston, Emily Nicholson, Jennifer Woodruff and Taylor Waldrop all won class titles and the remaining five pro cards.
WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING Angela Salvagno, the light heavyweight class winner, won the overall while middleweight winner Akila Pervis, grabbed the second pro card awarded in the division. The two could not have been more of a study in contrast. Salvagno sported great size and conditioning while Pervis displayed the most aesthetic shape.
The curtain drops on the 2009 NPC USA Bodybuilding, Figure & Bikini Championships – the biggest competitor turnout in the history of the NPC – and 17 competitors leave Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada as the newest IFBB Pro League athletes.
