2026 Olympia: Niall Darwen, Keone Pearson, Ryan Terry and Andrea Shaw win titles
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Event | 2026 Olympia Weekend |
| Dates | September 24–27, 2026 |
| City | Las Vegas |
| British winners | Niall Darwen (Classic Physique), Ryan Terry (Men's Physique) |
| Ms. Olympia | Andrea Shaw |
| Mr. Olympia | Nick Walker |
Britain’s Niall Darwen won the 2026 Classic Physique Olympia, ahead of Germany’s Mike Sommerfeld and 2025 champion Ramon Dino. It is the second straight year the division has a new champion since Chris Bumstead‘s run of six titles ended in 2024, and it capped a remarkable weekend for British athletes: Ryan Terry won Men's Physique and Samson Dauda was runner-up in the Men's Open.
Podiums in every division
| Division | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Physique | Niall Darwen | Mike Sommerfeld | Ramon Dino |
| 212 | Keone Pearson | Lucas Garcia | Shaun Clarida |
| Men's Physique | Ryan Terry | Ali Bilal | Kyron Holden |
| Ms. Olympia | Andrea Shaw | Ashley Lynnette Jones | Leyvina Rodrigues Barros |
| Women's Physique | Natalia Abraham Coelho | Zama Benta | Sarah Villegas |
| Figure | Lola Montez | Jessica Reyes Padilla | Denise Zwinger-Tynek |
| Bikini | Jasmine Gonzalez | Maureen Blanquisco | Aimee Delgado |
| Fitness | Michelle Fredua-Mensah | Jaclyn Baker | Anna Fomina |
| Wellness | Eduarda Bezerra | Isabelle Nunes | Elisa Alcantara |
Division by division
212: Keone Pearson beat Brazil’s Lucas Garcia and former champion Shaun Clarida. Pearson’s structure — a small waist and full muscle bellies — is exactly what 212 judges reward.
Ms. Olympia: Andrea Shaw won again, with Ashley Lynnette Jones second. Our sources disagree on which of the two won in 2024 and 2025, so our Ms. Olympia history marks those years as being verified.
Fitness: Michelle Fredua-Mensah completed an Arnold Classic–Olympia double, the only athlete to win the same division at both shows in 2026.
Wellness: Brazil’s Eduarda Bezerra won the division that rewards lower-body development, where Brazilian athletes have been dominant.
Our take
The story of the weekend was Britain. Darwen, Terry and Dauda give the UK its best Olympia result in memory, and Darwen’s win suggests Classic Physique’s post-Bumstead era will be decided by balance and flow rather than raw size.
Pearson is the 212 champion with the best chance of a long reign; Shaw remains the benchmark in women’s bodybuilding.
Full Men’s Open placings are in our Mr. Olympia report, and the complete Olympia results are on our Olympia Weekend results page.
The British breakthrough
British bodybuilding has produced Olympia champions before — Dorian Yates won six straight Mr. Olympia titles from 1992 to 1997 and Samson Dauda won in 2024 — but never on this scale in a single weekend. Darwen’s Classic Physique win, Terry’s Men’s Physique win and Dauda’s Open runner-up spot reflect a deep pool of UK talent and coaching.
| Athlete | Division | 2026 result |
|---|---|---|
| Niall Darwen | Classic Physique | Champion |
| Ryan Terry | Men's Physique | Champion |
| Samson Dauda | Men's Open | Runner-up |
| James Hollingshead | Men's Open | 10th |
What's next
The 2027 Olympia qualification window opened on August 31, 2026 and runs until September 12, 2027. Every 2026 division champion is automatically qualified, and several top finishers have already won pro shows to lock in their places.
See every winner since 1965 on our Mr. Olympia winners page.