Iakopo, Long are overall champions again

From left, Filomenaleonisa Iakopo, the Figure overall champion and Jastine Doria pose for a photo during the awarding of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort’s Taga Hall.(LEIGH GASES)

Filomenaleonisa Iakopo is the Figure overall champion and Cielo Long is the overall champion of the Bikini category of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort’s Taga Hall.

Iakopo won the Figure overall title against Jastine Doria, while Long took home the Bikini overall title against Liekeila’akata Iakopo.

For 17-year-old Filomenaleonisa, who competed last 2021 and also won the Figure overall championship, she said that all that she went through preparing for this competition was worth it.

How she felt winning this time around, “I feel very blessed. It was a really hard journey,” she said. “I wanted to come back on stage and defend my title and it was really all about myself beating my own physique from last time. I pushed myself with dieting, I cut water which was the hardest part for me. I could say I did not enjoy my preparation, but it’s the results and the discipline. Even if I did not win, it was still a reward in itself, just because of the hard work that you put yourself through, and the growth you put yourself through—that is the reward.”

From left, Cielo Long, the overall champion of the Bikini category, and Liekeila’akata Iakopo, pose for a photo during the awarding of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort’s Taga Hall.(LEIGH GASES)

She added, “I’m just extremely thankful. I want to give my thanks to coach Derek Cutting—he is the one who trained my brothers and sister and I. My mother and father who have always supported us, who kept us going, and who always believed in each and everyone of us.”

As for 18-year-old Long, this is her second overall title in a row. Long, who returned to Saipan for summer vacation just before Typhoon Mawar reached the Marianas, said that after winning again, “I feel great. It’s an honor to be back home and doing the thing I love with people that I love.”

About the competition, she said, “This is a sport that I’ve always loved since high school so it’s nice to be on stage and be with the people I knew in high school, and just to be back home with amazing and strong individuals. It was a great competition and the turnout was pretty great too.”

Eva Weaver, second from left, is the Fitness Pageant overall champion of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort’s Taga Hall.(LEIGH GASES)

For her preparation this time around, she said she didn’t prepare as long as she did for the past two competitions, but she said that with her physique now, she “definitely felt more comfortable… I feel like I’ve grown. I know my areas around the sport. I know how to prep—I’m familiar with the routines and protocols that you have to endure to do a show like this. So, I feel very proud of myself and the rest of the competitors as well.” 

In the Mixed Pairs category, father-and-daughter duo, Stanley and Filomenaleonisa, were the only competitors and won the title; Jastine Doria was the lone competitor in the Women’s Physique division and won first place; and in the Fitness Pageant category, Eva Weaver won the overall title against three others. Nicolette Martin won first in the short Fitness Pageant category, Le’ana Lizama won second, and Antonette Martin won third. 

Sponsors of the event included Megabyte of Saipan, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Marianas Visitors Authority, Gold’s Gym, Latte Built Gym, Saipan World Resort, Rozelle Printing, Top Notch, Power 99, Glushko’s Academy of Performing Arts, Foremost, Island Touch by Philip, and Coca-Cola Beverage Micronesia.