COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Arnold Sports Festival has come a long way since its small beginning in 1989.
What started with 30 competitors has grown to 12,000 today.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the largest sporting event in the nation with Columbus as the host.
The event is expected to pump more than $15 million into the local economy through hotel room bookings, transportation and a lot of food.
The newest event to come to the Arnold Sports Festival this year is World Chase Tag, which brings together athletes from the world of Parkour and Ninja Warrior disciplines. It will host its WCT6 Pan American Championship for the Americas at The Arnold. The competition will be filmed and rebroadcast on ESPN in April.
The spot is similar to what you played as a kid, only these competitors chase each other in a ring of different obstacles that they must climb under, or over to avoid being tagged.
“My brother and my son are just what we used to do a lot of tagging the garden. And then we started to set up our own set of rules. And those rules just expanded out, then we added obstacles, and those obstacles expanded. And then we ended up with kind of what you see behind you,” said Christian Devaux, CEO at World Chase Tag.
The 35th Annual Arnold Classic will be headlined by two-time champion William “The Conqueror” Bonac, 2021 Arnold Classic champ Nick “The Mutant” Walker and two-time Mr. Olympia Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay.
The Arnold Classic begins with prejudging on Friday, March 3, from 7-9:30 p.m. and the finals will take place from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, March 4.
Arnold’s Strongman Classic will feature two brothers from Scotland who are contending for the title of World’s Strongest Mann – 2022’s World’s Strongest Man Tom Stoltman; and his brother, Luke. Arnold Strongwoman Classic will feature 10 of the world’s strongest women, including Ukraine’s Olga Liashchuk who was 2022’s World’s Strongest Woman and USA’s Victoria Long, last year’s Arnold Pro Strongwoman Champion.
Most of the events will happen at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, but there are also events at the Ohio Expo Center, Hollywood Casino and Kemba Live.
Arnold Expo will be held March 3-5 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and feature more than 1,000 booths from vendors in sports equipment, apparel and nutrition.
Ohio Expo Center tickets are available at a discount and valid for the Arnold Expo but must be redeemed at the Ohio Expo Center at either Cheerleading, Martial Arts Festival or Baton Twirling.
Parking at the Ohio Expo Center will be $10.
Free shuttles will run from the Ohio Expo Center to the Greater Columbus Convention Center from Thursday through Sunday.