New York, New York, May 19th: The Tribeca Performing Arts Center has seen its fair share of gala events with countless triumphs of success by those who have taken the stage at this little corner of Manhattan, but for Juliana Malacarne it will forever carry a very special remembrance. For this pocket-sized Brazilian with a bombshell body and an appreciative fan base who has waited a very long time to see her regain a shining moment in the sport she loves, this night brought back fond memories of what she calls “the good old days as an amateur competitor”. In front of a lively New York sellout crowd, Malacarne and an additional 28 contestants jammed the Tribeca stage to form the largest pro Physique competition to date. But this event, in a division that is still undergoing its growing pains, the day belonged to Juliana.
The sweetness of Juliana Malacarne's victory can be traced back to her first contest in 1999 when she began as a fitness competitor and winning that contest after training for just four months. She soon won the Brazilian, Ibero and South American Fitness titles between 2000 and 2002. But after taking a break to get her degree in Physical Education, 2005 became a breakout year as she crowned the Brazilian, South American and IFBB World Amateur overall Bodyfitness (Figure) champion earning her ticket to the pro ranks.
To best understand Malacarne's joy in winning the New York Pro Physique event, that World victory in 2005 had stuck with her in vivid memory. In winning that gold medal on stage in Spain, and with the Brazilian national anthem playing, tears streamed down her cheeks as she sung the anthem loudly with a pride of her country and the supreme accomplishment she had just achieved. Moments like that never fade. And on this night that feeling came back after a seven-year wait......a seven year itch that she was finally able to scratch.
But as successful as she was seven years ago, she was about to embark on a pro figure career that would see her finishing in forgettable placings show after show. And as usual the MO was that she was simply too muscular for figure. In a dozen contests including two invitations to the Figure International she finished no higher than 10th and at one event she even finished tied for 21st. In her pro debut she finished tied for 20th. All these heart-wrenching contest experiences took place between 2006 and 2010, but with the creation of the new Physique division Malacarne imagined that this might just be the opportunity she had hoped would change her direction and redouble her efforts to train to be at her very best. This night she was exactly that...her very best. Seven years washed away in one evening.
So, with six pro Physique contests in the books, three of those victories belong to Brazilians. Nascimento, Mello and Malacarne. It rings like a Brazilian attorney firm, and so far, at least, these three have managed to lay down the law with a special something extra that creates a Wow factor. Call it an intangible, but it exists. In Malacarne's case, she is blessed with a double dose of sound structural genetics that includes small joints and full, well-shaped muscle bellies that also features broad shoulders and a tapering back to a wasp-like waistline. Put simply, she showed no weaknesses, and it was all good. For her efforts and patiently waiting for the Physique division to make itself available to her, she pocketed $5,000 in winner's prize money. Not a bad payday for a 5-2, 119-pound competitor who had never performed a bodybuilding style routine in the past.
Chasing Malacarne in the runner-up spot was New Yorker Teresita Morales. Formerly a bodybuilder in another 
organization, Morales became a figure competitor in the NPC winning the 2010 Atlantic States Master division. The same year she followed up with a Masters class victory at the NPC Team Universe to go with a win in the open division. Morales made her pro debut at the 2011 Phoenix Pro Figure Championships where she finished 15th. Here, she showed a considerably higher level of lean muscular definition than many of those who finished in lower placings, and her overall appearance presented a distinctively different appearance to that of Malacarne. Nonetheless, she accepted a check for $2,000 to go with her second-place finish.
Third went to the Thailand's Pengraghai Tiangngok. At 5-5 ½, and weighing in the neighborhood of 137 pounds, this striking former figure competitor was making her pro debut, and it was a solid one. A hurdler in track & field as a high schooler and in college, Tiangngok most recently won the Juliette Bergmann Classic figure division in 2011. With the structural look that shows a streamlined thoroughbred racehorse-style look, her athletic abilities would not be surprising. In fact she's also an accomplished powerlifter who has pulled 330 pounds (raw) in the dead lift at 132 pounds. Like Malacarne and Morales, Tiangngok was also in the first call-out of the prejudging and the judges had her firmly on their collective radar from then on. So, in her first pro experience she found herself $1,000 richer taking home third-place prize money.
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| Ayanna Carroll |
In fourth place was Maryland's Ayanna Carroll. Making a strong debut at the Europa Show of Champions in April, this former Figure competitor strengthened her stock value by adding a top-five placing at this big event. A plus for any contestant as these contests continue to grow and the caliber of quality physiques increases will be to hang with the top placers. Carroll took that important second step in this event.
Trailing Ayanna Carroll by just four points in fifth was the striking Joele Smith. Improving on her pro Physique debut at the LA Grand Prix in April, Smith also proved she is in the mix as a solid competitor in this division. At the LA Grand Prix she placed sixth, but she was just one point out of fifth. Here her final tally was, once again, very close. And a top-five finish at this contest was far from a walk in the park as can be witnessed by those who placed outside the top 15.
Just two points behind Joele Smith was New Jersey's Jennifer Smythe. Like Carroll and Smith just in front of her in the final point totals, Smythe's sixth-place finish here was far more impressive than the third-place spot she captured at the St. Louis Pro Physique back in March. Smythe earned her pro card at the 2001 NPC Team Universe after a successful run as an amateur Figure competitor. Finishing so close to the top five in such a high quality group of contestants, her motivational level should be sky high at this point.
Making her pro debut as a pro Physique competitor Melissa DiBernardo came away with a very respectable seventh-place finish. With prior experience as both a Figure competitor and bodybuilder (she was the LW and Overall winner at the 2010 NPC Eastern USA), the compulsories and a posing routine came naturally while looking comfortable on stage in this new contest environment. She'll no doubt be looking to forge into a top-five position in one of the seven pro Physique shows remaining in 2012.
With an eighth-place finish at this contest on the heels of a seventh-place finish at the LA Grand Prix, Carrie Simmons has established a level of consistency in larger pro Physique fields. One of the contest's most multifaceted entrants, Simmons looks to be a born performer showing strong stage presence backed by her abilities where attended Philadelphia's School of Circus Arts and working as a professional aerial acrobat. She can also play the violin and saxophone, and has a background in kickboxing. Primarily a fitness competitor as an amateur, she turned pro at the NPC Fitness Nationals in 2010. The new pro Physique division look like a good fit for this woman of perpetual movement.
Ninth went to Jennifer Hernandez who enjoyed good success as a Figure competitor at the amateur level. Turning pro in 2009 winning her class at the NPC Masters Figure Nationals, Hernandez' fortunes at the pro Figure level were far from encouraging. After placing fifth at the Australia Grand Prix Figure earlier this year, she made the decision to give the Physique division a try and a top-ten finish in this big field could be considered a victory of sorts considering those who finished below her in the final standings. Her ninth-place spot comes after finishing just one point behind Carrie Simmons.
Rounding out the top ten was mega-veteran Stacy Simons-McDowell. McDowell moved into the Physique division at the LA Grand Prix where she finished fifth. After a long career as one of the best Fitness competitors in the pro ranks dating back to 1999 when she turned pro, McDowell has competed in nine Ms. Olympias and seven Fitness Internationals in addition to winning a pair of European Pro Fitness Cups in 2003 and '04. Her finish here will bear watching as she decides which direction to move in the coming calendar year.
For those who placed outside the top ten there was understandable disappointment, not to mention a few surprises. A quartet of women experienced placings that 
shell-shocked them and at the very least created a level of confusion. Placing 12th and 13th was Jillian Reville and Marilena Echohawk respectively. Reville was a third-placer at Desert Muscle Classic and upped the ante at the Europa Show of Champions with a second-place finish less than a month ago. Meanwhile, Echohawk was a runner-up finisher at the inaugural Desert Muscle Classic, and this second effort in a field that was three times the size of the Desert event had to be sobering.
Equally sobering was the16th-place finish of Michelle Blank. After a runner-up finish at the St. Louis Pro Physique event, her tie for the 16th spot with 14 other entrants might have this sixth-place finisher at the 2011 Fitness Olympia cartwheeling her way back to that division. And also occupying an unlikely 16th position was Dana Linn Bailey. The inaugural winner of the first Physique division contest held at the NPC Junior USA last year, she found herself finishing fourth at the pro inaugural Desert Muscle Classic in February. Here, she was swept away to the fourth call-out of the prejudging in a group of six that included former LW Ms. Olympia winner Dayana Cadeau, Petra Mertl, Louise Rogers, Nathalie Falk (the German LW champion), and Heather Grace – not bad company, but all of whom finished in the dreaded tie for 16th. Canadian pro Debbie Leung brought solid resume to this division having won both the Canadian National LW title in bodybuilding as well as the Canadian National title in Figure. She has also been at the pro level since 2005 in the Figure division, but she missed the cut to the top-15.
With a consistency of standards still being tooled and with seven more Pro Physique events between now and late October, much can change. One thing is certain, past contest credentials such as Stacy Simons-McDowell and Lightweight Ms. Olympia winner Dayana Cadeau will not carry these distinguished competitors to an automatic high placing in this new division.
Also among those who suffered a bottom placement were two former NPC National weight class champions - but exhibiting the widest possible margin of experience in this division. Alaska's Laura Boisacq turned pro at the 2011 NPC Nationals when she topped the MW class. The New York event was her pro debut. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the stalwart Marina Lopez – a LW winner at the 2010 NPC Nationals entering her sixth pro Physique contest. She remains the only competitor who has entered all six pro Physique events held thus far. As her placings seem to sink lower in the final results, a positive note is that she is one of only two pro bodybuilders who have placed in the top five of a pro Physique division contest – the other being Karina Nascimento a third at the 2003 Ms. International who won the first pro Physique contest (the Desert Muscle Classic) back in February.
Others who avoided being cut from the top 15 were 11th-placed Jane Santos, Karen Gatto 14th and Cassandra Floyd 15th.
View all photos and results from the 2012 IFBB New York Pro>>
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