In a monumental achievement for Jamaica's sporting landscape, professional IFBB Pro League athlete Kristen McGregor has emerged victorious in the Figure category at the Mr. Big Evolution Pro competition held from July 7-9 at Casino Estoril in Portugal.

McGregor's exceptional stage presence, posing prowess, and remarkable physical conditioning captivated the entire room, earning her the champion title in her category. This remarkable victory now paves her way to compete at the prestigious Ms Olympia contest later this year.

Reflecting on her journey, McGregor expressed gratitude for the triumph, acknowledging the challenges she had faced in the previous year.

"Last year was a tough year. I took off the season following my first show due to several unforeseen obstacles," she shared. However, with unwavering faith in God and a resilient mindset, McGregor approached her training with determination to secure her spot at the Olympia Championships set for November 2-5.

 "I trained for one year and entered my first competition, Mr. Big Evolution Pro, with a strong mind and determination to qualify for the Olympia Championships, and just as planned, it was executed, and I qualified," McGregor revealed.

This achievement marks a historic milestone in Jamaica's bodybuilding scene, as she becomes the first and only female representative from the nation to progress this far in over 25 years.

While the realization of her qualification for the Olympia stage is still sinking in, McGregor embraces the tremendous feeling of accomplishment. "It is indeed a tremendous feeling to have achieved this accomplishment," she expressed. However, she also hopes for greater support, be it financial or through endorsements, from her country as she prepares for the grandest competition of her career.

Acknowledging the challenges and hurdles she has overcome, McGregor expressed gratitude towards the sponsors and supporters who made her journey possible. "I give thanks to all the sponsors who made this show a possibility because it wasn't easy," she stated, extending her appreciation to Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited, Express Fitness, Millennium Technical Services, Champion Industrial Equipment, Dr. Alfred Dawes, other contributors/donors, and her family.

While McGregor relishes the joyous moment of victory, her focus quickly shifts to the daunting task ahead. "Right now, all I am thinking about is coming back home and eating some 'nice food' and getting back in the game because Olympia ain't no joke. This is where the big dogs come out!" she exclaimed.

McGregor is expected to arrive home in Jamaica today, Wednesday, July 12.

Kristen McGregor, 2020 Miss Olympia Amateur, hampered by the lack of consistent financial support in her home country of Jamaica, has launched a GoFundMe page in the hope of raising just over USD$12,000 that would help her achieve her goal of participating in the Ms Olympia Competition in December.

Easily Jamaica’s most successful female fitness athlete of the modern era, McGregor a former track and field athlete, has won national fitness titles and in 2018 was crowned CAC Champion in the category of Body Fitness Tall Class.

A 2021 Prime Minister Youth Awardee, McGregor has placed in the top five in most of her international competitions and harbours the ambition of one day winning the coveted Ms Olympia title for herself and her country.

In late April, she competed and placed fifth in the Figure competition at the Fit Muscle Championships in Mexico. It is essential that she competes in similar events leading up to December in order to accumulate the necessary qualification points to make it to the Ms Olympia contest.

Alas, this is proving to be more easily said than done as it has proven difficult to find the financial resources needed to compete regularly. Her next competition is in June and she is pondering whether she will be able to get there.

 “The major challenge I face as a national athlete is corporate sponsorship. I am a bit disappointed with the responses I received for sponsorship requests seeking help to represent my country and hoping that I would have gotten good responses, even given the fact that I am a recipient of the Prime Minister's Youth Award,” McGregor told Sportsmax.TV after her return from Mexico.

 However, she remains hopeful.

 “I do hope that going forward I might receive better responses from other corporations and our sporting body,” she said.

 “The lack of support and sponsorship can impact my goals to represent Jamaica at the Olympia, as I am unable to cover the expenses related to travel and accommodation to participate in the various competitions, where I can only compete as a professional athlete in my discipline. It is my dream to represent Jamaica at the highest level of bodybuilding.”

 Contributions to McGregor’s GoFundMe page can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kristen-make-it-to-the-olympia-competition?member=19126721&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

Kristen McGregor opened her 2022 season with an encouraging top-five finish at the Fit Muscle Championships in Mexico last weekend (April 23). The performance sets the tone for what could be an outstanding season for the fitness athlete, who is desirous of competing at the Miss Olympia competition in December. However, she can only achieve this if she can get consistent sponsor support.

McGregor, the winner of the 2020 Miss Olympia Amateur title in the Women's Figure Category, is a former national champion and CAC Champion and is arguably Jamaica’s best female fitness athlete of the modern era. However, it has been a struggle to attract consistent sponsorship support as she strives for her career goals.

“The major challenge I face as a national athlete is corporate sponsorship. I am a bit disappointed with the responses I received for sponsorship requests seeking help to represent my country and hoping that I would have gotten good responses, even given the fact that I am a recipient of the Prime Minister's Youth Award,” lamented McGregor, who is the holder of a Bachelor's degree in Sports Science from the University of Technology (UTech).

“However, I have to give big thanks to the companies that gave their generous support such as EduCom, Geolosndo, VM Group and to the contributing supporters.

“I do hope that going forward I might receive better responses from other corporations and our sporting body. The lack of support and sponsorship can impact my goals to represent Jamaica at the Olympia, as I am unable to cover the expenses related to travel and accommodation to participate in the various competitions, where I can only compete as a professional athlete in my discipline. It is my dream to represent Jamaica at the highest level of bodybuilding.”

That dream has been the fuel driving McGregor's ambitions ever since she transitioned from athletics in 2017 and what sparked her singular focus during the off-season in preparation for 2022.

“It has been nothing but hard work for every show. Hard work and focus are the common denominators for every season prep. l am in the gym every day and on diet for a maximum of 16 weeks during preparation,” she revealed.

That work paid off in Mexico.

“A top-five finish is a great accomplishment, considering the progress from last year, where I also finished in the top five in Puerto Rico Pro, and in the Tampa Pro placing 4th and 11^th, respectively. However, for my first show since 2022, finishing in the top five is a great place to finish because I have already started to accumulate points toward the quantifying for the Olympia Competition,” she said.

“Only second through fifth-place finishers for each contest, depending on the tier of the contest can accumulate points. All competitors will have between September 13, 2021, to November 20, 2022, to qualify whether by placement or points for the big show in December, the Olympia held in Las Vegas. That being said, the progress has been going well.”

Too well even. In fact, she worked so hard during the off-season she might have bulked up a tad much.

"Last year was a bit different from this year, as I really didn’t get a chance to train properly for my debut and my first Pro show coming out of winning the Amateur Olympia in December 2020. I contracted the COVID virus which caused me to stop training and in the time between recovery and my first show, which was the Puerto Rico Pro, I didn’t have much time to bulk so we went straight in for competition," she said.

"I figured that was the reason I was too small because I was burning muscles while in recovery. My coach, too, reassessed and ended my season after the Tampa Pro in June and we started working on bulking up from that time. I had a wonderful off-season, no injuries or sickness so I was training right through.

"I think this time around we gained good size. I was able to condition properly without burning muscles. Coming out of this show, the judges said I was perfect in shape. However, based on how the other girls came in I was too big so I have to lose a bit more and I would be okay. So yes, I am on a good path but with that, my coach has decided on reducing by about five to six pounds more for my next show on June 17-19, 2022 which is the Puerto Rico Pro."

Kristen McGregor was quite pleased with her performance at last weekend’s Puerto Rico Pro in the Bahamas where she finished in the top-six even though she was a bit perplexed as to the reason given why she didn’t place higher.

In the competition that is a Tier-3 qualifier for Olympia qualification, McGregor, who won the Miss Olympia Amateur in the Women’s Fitness Category in 2020, placed fourth behind Puerto Rico’s Jessica Reyes Padilla, Mexico’s Mayra Hernandez and Heather Dees of the USA.

“The competition was just like any other competition for me. I always go in with no expectations. I trained hard, I put in the work, I am ready, this is always my mindset going into any competition,” McGregor told Sportsmax.TV this week.

“I am quite pleased with my placement. Going up against 20 plus veteran females, who have either competed in Ms Olympia before, multiple times, placing fourth on my pro debut, amongst such calibre athletes, I am very pleased.”

She admitted, however, that she was caught off guard by the comments of one of the judges with whom she spoke afterwards about why she did not place higher.

“To be honest, I am not sure if surprised is the right word. I was more speechless, lost, confused when the head judge approached me backstage and complimented me on my “amazing physique, X-factor and shape but then said the only thing was I was a little too small, which lead me to ask, “What do you mean?”

“He explained, ‘You just need to get more muscle maturity and density because you are right on the money which will come with time, dieting and training’”.

She said she took very important lessons from the judge’s critique but is now more than ever before assured that she is on the right track in terms of dieting and training and that her structure and build are spot on.

“The areas I need to improve on are muscle maturity and size which will come through continued training and dieting,” she said. “But to get bigger for the next show now is all about increasing portion sizes and stepping up that training which my coaches are already over.”

As she continues on her journey to qualify for Ms Olympia, McGregor and her team have set their sights on the next Olympia Qualifying show, the IFBB Professional League Yamamoto Nutrition Cup Tampa-Pro-XIV National Qualifier at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tampa, Florida on August 5th-7th, 2021.

She thanked Jamaica’s Sports Development Foundation (SDF) and Proven Wealth as well as Victoria Mutual for the sponsorship support they provided that enabled her to compete in the Bahamas last weekend as she continues on her quest to Ms Olympia.