Derek Lunsford with a leg day pump on September 10. / Instagram
The 2023 Mr. Olympia is fast approaching. Staged in Orlando, Florida, on November 3-4, bodybuilding’s Super Bowl is just over two weeks away. That means it’s time for predictions. Six bodybuilding legends, including eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman and four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, made predictions for the top five or six places. Interestingly, no one picked defending champ Hadi Choopan to repeat. Instead, all but Milos Sarcev and Flex Wheeler, thought last year’s runner-up, Derek Lunsford, would become the 18th Mr. Olympia. Sarcev and Wheeler picked Samson Dauda to win, but then Sarcev coaches Dauda.
All prognosticators but Wheeler had the same top four but not in the same order: Choopan (1st last year), Lunsford (2nd last year), Nick Walker (3rd last year), and Dauda (6th last year). According to these former pro bodybuilders, three others—2019 Mr. O Brandon Curry (4th last year), Hunter Labrada (7th last year), and Andrew Jacked (8th last year)—will fight for the final two spots in the top six. By the way, the other three competitors from the 2022 Mr. Olympia top 10—two-time winner Big Ramy (5th), William Bonac (9th), and Raphael Brandao (10th)—are not competing.
For the record, we at The Barbell agree with Dennis James’ top six prediction, with the one caveat that we won’t be surprised if Curry overtakes Walker for the fourth spot. We’ll see who was right (or closest to it) on November 4.
Update: On October 31, after these predictions were made, Nick Walker dropped out of the Mr. Olympia due to a hamstring injury. Full story here.
RONNIE COLEMAN
1. Derek Lunsford
2. Hadi Choopan
3. Samson Dauda
4. Nick Walker
5. Andrew Jacked
6. Brandon Curry
Coleman commentary: “I think we’re going to have a new Mr. Olympia, and that’s going to be Derek Lunsford. But you never know, because this guy named Samson [Dauda], who won the [2023] Arnold Classic is getting big so you never know when you might have an upset, kind of like when I won the [1998] Olympia.”
CHRIS CORMIER
1. Derek Lunsford
2. Hadi Choopan
3. Samson Dauda
4. Nick Walker
5. Andrew Jacked
6. Hunter Labrada
Oct. 24 Update: The next week, Cormier did a top five list that dropped Choopan to 4th: Lunsford (1), Dauda (2), Walker (3), Choopan (4), Jacked (5).
JAY CUTLER
1. Derek Lunsford
2. Hadi Choopan
3. Samson Dauda
4. Nick Walker
5. Hunter Labrada
6. Brandon Curry
Cutler commentary: “It’s hard to count Hadi out. I just feel like Derek had first-place votes last year. I think Derek is going to be so much improved….I think he’s going to be absolutely mind-boggling crazy at this Olympia….Samson it comes down to condition. I mean, that’s always been his hindrance. That’s really what it’s going to come down to. Nick Walker, we know, is going to be in crazy shape, obviously. He thinks he’s coming to win.”
DENNIS JAMES
1. Derek Lunsford
2. Samson Dauda
3. Hadi Choopan
4. Nick Walker
5. Brandon Curry
6. Andrew Jacked
MILOS SARCEV
1. Samson Dauda
2. Hadi Choopan
3. Derek Lunsford
4. Nick Walker
5. Andrew Jacked
6. Brandon Curry
FLEX WHEELER
1. Samson Dauda
2. Derek Lunsford
3. Nick Walker
4. Andrew Jacked
5. Hadi Choopan
