Anticipation is building for the Inter-Island Bodybuilding, Fitness & Physique Championship 2022 that is set to take place on Sunday, July 3, in the Maho Casino Royale.
This year’s International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) sanctioned event organized by the Bodybuilding and Fitness Association of Saint-Martin (BFASM) is shaping up to be the biggest to date with 80 athletes so far registered from 17 countries.
There are two events in one this year, a Pro Qualifier for amateurs and which will see the top four winners automatically become Pros, who are then eligible to compete in the main Pro event that night. The Pro event has the same categories and US$16,000 in cash prizes.
The Pro athletes will also be qualifying to represent their countries for the World Championships to be held in Spain in September.
French St. Martin’s first Bikini Pro athlete Josephine Elvina Matthew will be competing having earned her Pro Card last year at the championship held in the Secrets Resort in Ans Marcel. They like how professional we are and that the standard is very high compared to other countries.”
Another indicator of how highly the championship is regarded is that this year a professional journalist from the IFBB headquarters will be covering and filming the event for the IFBB news channel.
“Getting that exposure from the top is very valuable for us,” Carty added.
The schedule is as follows: Saturday, July 2, weigh-in for the Pro Qualifier at 10:30 am in the Simpson Bay Resort (pool area), Elite Pro “Meet the Pros” press conference at 5:30 pm in West Indies Mall on the rooftop terrace; Sunday, July 3, Pro Qualifier event at 10:30 am, Elite Pro event at 7:30m (Pro qualifier for world championships).