Three of the top four in the 2026 Mr. Olympia were easy to predict as soon as we found out perennial top contender Hadi Choopan wouldn’t be there. Derek Lunsford, Samson Dauda, and Andrew Jacked were in the top four at the 2025 Olympia (with Choopan) and constituted the top three at this year’s Arnold Classic. But who would join them? Martin Fitzwater was fourth in 2024 and fifth last year. But the always unpredictable Nick Walker, last a top contender in 2022—an eternity ago in bodybuilding—had transformed his physique to answer at least some of the criticisms and yet remain a true Mutant. It was clear from the first callout Walker was going to push for not just a top three medal but the ultimate prize of the Sandow trophy.
Full report coming soon.
2026 MR. OLYMPIA: TOP FOUR
All photos from the final callout of Friday’s prejudging.
2026 MR. OLYMPIA RESULTS
September 25-26, 2026 / Orleans Arena / Las Vegas, Nevada
1. Nick Walker ($600,000)
2. Samson Dauda ($250,000)
3. Derek Lunsford ($100,000)
4. Chinedu “Andrew Jacked” Obiekea ($50,000)
5. Tonio Burton ($30,000)
6. Michal Krizanek
7. Regan Grimes
8. Behrooz Tabani Abarghani
9. Brandon Curry
10. James Hollingshead
11. Jordan Hutchinson
12. Martin Fitzwater
13. Leandro Sencini Peres
14. Edward Kargbo
15. Sasan Heirarti
The following seven competitors did not place. They are listed here alphabetically.
William Bonac
Sergey Danilov
Quinton Eriya
Mohamed Foda
Damian Kuffel
Patrick Moore
Andrea Presti
* Nick Walker also won the People’s Champ Award ($10,000), voted on by fans.
2026 MR. OLYMPIA SCORECARD
Dauda won the Saturday finals with straight firsts (5 points), but because he had straight thirds (15 points) in Friday’s prejudging he couldn’t quite overtake Walker for the win. He did pass Lunsford, who was in a one-point battle for first after Friday.
