FMS @RP2018: Jill Blondin's Good Year

The above HD Physiques samples were taken at the cusp of a remarkable contest season for Jill Blondin (aka Jill Diorio). A couple of days after this shoot she made a promising competitive start to 2018 at the IFBB Champions of Power and Grace (good name!), winning the Over 35 title and placing 2nd in the Open Physique class.



Her next three shows were, however, less successful. 7th at the Optimum Classic was followed by a barely believable 11th in Toronto. She did one more Physique show in Omaha, and placed 6th. It proved to be the turning point in her year. As their booth toured the pro shows, Wings of Strength had been reaching out to some of the Physique competitors - Jill included - but ultimately she was pushed, rather than pulled, in their direction. [It wasn't] because of my placings, but the reasoning behind those placings and the judges' feedback that I found myself having to make some decisions, she said. After Omaha, the decision was made to follow the judges' suggestions [my bold] and move up to Women's Bodybuilding. She would compete again in just four weeks.




The fact that just one month later in Chicago Jill won her first Female Bodybuilding title at her first attempt says a lot for the strength of the line-up and blurring of the line between the two divisions. It also says a lot for her muscularity and, above all, her conditioning. Though she has bigger calves than anyone, she is no giant by any means. To cut it in pro Female Bodybuilding, she needed to be razor sharp. And she was.



She beat other Physique to FBBing novices - Natalia Kovalyova, Amanda Smith - and she beat bigger, more experienced women - Maria Mikola, Jay Fuchs, Rita Bello. I had zero expectations going into the show because this was all new for me, she confessed afterwards, clearly in shock. My only goal was to not look out of place or like I didn’t belong. Regardless of what happened, I was proud of myself to taking on a new challenge, pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I’m still not sure I’ve really grasped that I actually DID win. I’m waiting for someone to pinch me.



So Jill started to prepare for her night on Female Bodybuilding's biggest stage, and the "pinch Jill next time she can't believe that she's won" queue started to form...



Predictions on the forums before the show (you may remember from FMS passim) made mention of Jill as a possible top 6 finisher, and so it proved. She was - to my eyes (on stalks) anyway - even more cut than she had been in Chicago, and bigger too.



Her pre-routine film suggested she knows which side her bread is buttered too, with a montage of some of her better-known shots, including the very big finish of a closing zoom into that shot of her bulging vascular calves (taken some time ago now).



If any of the ladies' films on the night whipped the heads in the audience into a female muscle lovin' frenzy, this (or should I say these?) was it. Probably the best calves in the world, and probably in the conversation for the best calves ever, but clearly Jill is so much more than just the sum of these bulging, epic wonders of the female muscle lovin' world, and I think the judges' decision to place her in the top 6 - ahead of Virginia Sanchez, and way ahead of Jay Fuchs - was a fair reflection of that.




Congratulations to Jill, and I hope she'll forgive me for ending by returning to those calves once again, but this female muscle lovin' boy just can't help himself...



Enjoy!



For Elms, enjoy my friend!

Save the Date (Part 2)

Our Rising Phoenix preview continues...

SADLY NOT JOINING US



For once, we won't see her trusty black posing suit straining against the awesome power of her legendary muscles (and other bits). Yaxeni Oriquen's 3rd place package at last year's show was, it has been confirmed, her "last". She is retired now and at peace with all her success and greatness, according to Sheila Bleck.

SHEILA BLECK



So I guess that makes Sheila the most experienced woman standing in terms of pro FBBing at the very highest level. She could so easily have been the champ last year, and as always when she takes the stage, Sheila will be a serious contender again.



She never placed lower than 7th in her four Olympias between 2010 and 2014, she's never been out of the top two at the Rising Phoenix. Could this (finally) be her year?

VIRGINIA SANCHEZ



Sheila is well used to the luxury of just having one end-of-season show to prepare for, but it's a new experience for Spanish behemoth Virginia. Her 5th at last year's RP was as popular a result for this "delicious monster" as it was unexpected - nothing in Virginia's previous contest history suggested she would challenge for the top 6.



As always, I'm hoping her next show will be the show where she dispenses with the hairpiece. As always, I won't be too surprised of it isn't. Currently looking as big, bold and sweaty as ever - I'm on my way! she says. Follow her final prep on Instagram.

(SURPRISE?) DEBUTANTS



From the points qualifying zone, two women who have perhaps exceeded their own expectations in 2018 - Tananarive Huie and LaDawn McDay. The former qualified as a result of finishing 3rd in a not-so stacked line-up in Toronto; the latter a suprise 3rd at the ultra-competitive Tampa Pro earlier in the month.

MAKING IT HAPPEN



More likely to be in the mix on the judges' scorecards though iss the woman who finished one place above LaDawn in Tampa - "the outstanding amateur Female Bodybuilder of the last few years" according to no lesser source than FMS(!) after she'd turned pro last year - the sassy, sexy (and ever so slightly scary) Pauline Nelson.



She wasted no time at all putting her pro card to use - 3rd in Tampa in 2017, she didn't place at the RP last year, but this year has seen her very much embraced by WoS. Cue Pauline at their booth in some of the pulse-quickening outfits she wears oh so well.

PHYSIQUE PHENOMS (FORMER)



One of the features of this contest season has been the migration of some of the more frustrated and/or muscular Physique beauties into the WoS fold at both amateur and pro level. Amanda Smith switched mid-season, as did Jill Diorio (aka Blondin). A couple of 5th places was enough for Amanda to qualify, while Jill (who switched later in the season) was as shocked as anyone to win at her first FBBing attempt in Chicago.

AVE MARIA!



But probably the biggest Physique to FBBing success story since WoS started running the show has been that of Canada's Maria Mikola. Originally a Bodybuilder, she switched to Physique in 2013 and there she remained for three years, her placings far far down on those she had achieved previously. 2017 saw her make a long overdue return to FBBing, and since then she has not only won one pro title (Omaha last year) but also collected four runner's-up medals, three of them this season alone.



Beaten only by the might of Margie Martin in Chicago. Maria looked better than ever, and if she brings anything like her Chicago package to Scottsdale, she'll be sure to improve on her 14th place on debut last year. She certainly got the attention of a lot more fans after Chicago, including one of the author's own contacts. We need to talk about Maria Mikola, he told me at the time. He did most of the talking.

OUR ROCKSTAR



Gorgeous, glamorous, and this year a winning pro - in Omaha - Isabelle Turell is proper FBBing royalty these days. She took a year off last year, but WoS were canny enough to make sure she felt like she was one of their most important ambassadors during that time, and that investment in her has paid off handsomely for them.



Isabelle's appeal lies, I believe, in the fact that she fetishises her muscles probably more than anyone in the line-up with the exception of Margie Martin. She's probably not jaw-droppingly huge enough to improve on her 13th in 2016, but she will nevertheless be one of the most fervently supported competitors in the contest, and, I wouldn't be surprised, feature pretty heavily in the show's marketing as well.

UNCROWNED



Fresh from her first ever pro win in Tampa, Alina is probably as keen to compete at the RP again as we all are to be in the same room as her naked body. Four times she went up against Iris at the Olympia, and - particularly on the last two of those occasions - the female muscle lovin' world yearned for her coronation. After a year off in 2015 she competed at the 2016 RP, not exactly a shadow of her former self, but certainly not the force she had been. "Pro FBBing has moved on," we noted as she placed a distant 3rd behind Sheila and Margie. There few complaints on the forums. Had her time passed?



It was a new look Alina in Tampa. Enhancements have been bought, and not everyone is pleased. Again, however, there were few complaints about the result, but there has been some scepticism as to whether she can challenge for the title in Arizona. I'm not sure. She's definitely lost a lot of the shock and awe she had at those Olympias, but she'll almost certainly be in the first callout, and if she can improve on her Tampa package, the most popular FBB of her generation may yet get to wear the crown.

QUEEN OF MUSCLE



Thankfully, her "retirement" didn't last long. A year off, a new man, and adjustments to the enhancements later, and Margie was back. She picked her show well, and in the most predictable result of the year, utterly dominated the "competition" in Chicago.



It's been a ride and a half to follow Margie on social media as she prepared to return, won in Chicago, and then started her prep to win back the title she abdicated last year. She is, remember, unbeaten at the Rising Phoenix as yet - two appearances, two wins - and she currently looks head and shoulders (and arms and pecs and legs and all the rest) above any other FBB on the planet. So despite the quality of the line-up this year, I can't help feeling - even three weeks out - there's only going to be one winner.

Save the date - September 8th.

Sunday Showdown

One of our alternatives to the Sunday Sizzler, the Sunday Showdown brings you two women, famed for a particular body part, going head-to head. Although to be fair...

Only one of the women in today's showdown is famed for her calves. The other, while having absolutely gorgeous and very respectable (ie. lickable) calves, can't really make it a contest. Then again, can anyone compete with Jill Diorio in the calf department?



I think not.



Diana Schnaidt - whose (respectable, lickable) calves are next to Jill's - is, however, rather an Amazon in the (generally) 5'5"-or-less world of elite female muscle. And so to redress the balance slightly, here's she is towering over Lady Calves and Melanie Horton (though not Buddha, obviously) during their post-show night out in Omaha.



We'll call it a draw on the biceps or we'll have to find something Melanie wins at. That dude though - Mr. Diorio I believe - is definitely winning at life. Definitely!