{"id":30315,"date":"2026-09-29T00:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30315"},"modified":"2026-09-29T00:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:40:19","slug":"nigerian-born-samson-dauda-finishes-second-at-2026-mr-olympia-the-whistler-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30315","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian-Born Samson Dauda Finishes Second At 2026 Mr Olympia \u2013 The Whistler Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nigerian-born bodybuilder Samson Dauda finished runner-up in the Men\u2019s Open division at the 2026 Mr Olympia in Las Vegas, United States, as Nick Walker claimed his first-ever title at the competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dauda, who won the Mr Olympia crown in 2024, finished with 20 points, two behind Walker\u2019s 18, while Derek Lunsford took third place with 24 points, according to the official 2026 scorecard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The competition took place in Las Vegas from September 24 to 27, with the Mr Olympia finals held at the Orleans Arena on Saturday, September 26.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dauda\u2019s second-place finish came despite him recording the lower score in the Saturday finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An analysis of the official scorecard showed that Walker led after Friday\u2019s prejudging with eight points, while Dauda had 15. In the finals, however, Dauda recorded five points compared with Walker\u2019s 10.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The combined scores left Walker on 18 points and Dauda on 20, with the competitor recording the lower overall score declared the winner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dauda confirmed his runner-up finish in an Instagram post on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c2nd place at the 2026 Mr. Olympia,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added, \u201cOf course we came here to win, but I couldn\u2019t be prouder of this moment and the look we brought to the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dauda also described his physique at the competition as \u201cthe best version of me we have ever created.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis was the best version of me we have ever created,\u201d he said in the post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While thanking his team, Dauda stressed that the achievement belonged to everyone who had supported him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis medal may be around my neck, but it belongs to all of us,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walker, meanwhile, secured the Sandow trophy for the first time after finishing sixth at the 2025 Mr Olympia. He also received the 2026 People\u2019s Champion award.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final top five in the Men\u2019s Open division were Walker, Dauda, Lunsford, Chinedu Andrew Obiekea, popularly known as Andrew Jacked, and Tonio Burton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dauda entered this year\u2019s competition after winning the 2026 Europa Pro on September 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His latest result marks a return to the Mr Olympia podium after he finished fourth in 2025. He previously won the title in 2024, with the official results listing him as representing the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/thewhistler.ng\/nigerian-born-samson-dauda-finishes-second-at-2026-mr-olympia\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigerian-born bodybuilder Samson Dauda finished runner-up in the Men\u2019s Open division at the 2026 Mr Olympia in Las Vegas, United States, as Nick Walker claimed his first-ever title at the competition. Dauda, who won the Mr Olympia crown in 2024, finished with 20 points, two behind Walker\u2019s 18, while Derek Lunsford took third place with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1554,"featured_media":30316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215,274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mens-open-bodybuilding","category-samson-dauda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigerian-Born Samson Dauda Finishes Second At 2026 Mr Olympia \u2013 The Whistler Newspaper - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30315\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigerian-Born Samson Dauda Finishes Second At 2026 Mr Olympia \u2013 The Whistler Newspaper - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigerian-born bodybuilder Samson Dauda finished runner-up in the Men\u2019s Open division at the 2026 Mr Olympia in Las Vegas, United States, as Nick Walker claimed his first-ever title at the competition. Dauda, who won the Mr Olympia crown in 2024, finished with 20 points, two behind Walker\u2019s 18, while Derek Lunsford took third place with [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=30315\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-29T00:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chiamaka BONIFACE\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chiamaka BONIFACE\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chiamaka BONIFACE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e9e18c8b13f8cad5808ee81c1eaae95\"},\"headline\":\"Nigerian-Born Samson Dauda Finishes Second At 2026 Mr Olympia \u2013 The Whistler Newspaper\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-29T00:40:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315\"},\"wordCount\":372,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/13.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Men's Open Bodybuilding\",\"Samson Dauda\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=30315\",\"name\":\"Nigerian-Born Samson Dauda Finishes Second At 2026 Mr Olympia \u2013 The Whistler Newspaper - 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