Podium finish and Deon's off to worlds

TOP FORM: Masterton bodybuilder Deon Smith in winning form at the NABBA/WFF Championships in Wellington last month.

Masterton bodybuilder Deon Smith has seized further glory in his bid to compete at the WFF World Championships Bodybuilding contest in Australia.

Smith, 42, took gold in the masters men over 40 category at the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association World Fitness Federation (NABBA/WFF) Championships in Wellington on September 27 and the overall NABBA mens championship title, and this weekend competes in the masters men over 40 class at the NABBA/WFF National CHampionships in Auckland.

"I was blown away when they called out my name for the overall winner. There were some big boys there. I felt like a giant killer for sure."

Smith, who is 190cm tall and weighed in at 92kg, won a gold medal in the masters class over 40/90kg plus athletic section at the NABBA/WFF Christchurch Grand Prix on May 17 when he launched his bid for a place at the world championships.

Smith took silver in the NABBA masters class at the regional champs in Wellington and first place in the over 40/87kg athletic section of the NABBA/WFF national championships in Auckland last year.

Should he mount the podium in third or better in Auckland on Saturday, he said, he will qualify for the Superbodies class at the WFF World Championships being held at the Twin Towns Services Club in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast on November 2.

"I think I have a fair chance at placing at the nationals because there wasn't a lot who looked that strong in the athletic class in Christchurch and Wellington," he said.

"But everyone will be going for it in Auckland for sure, because we all want to go to the worlds. It's not held so close to us very often."

Smith said he will travel to the world championships in three weeks alongside his manager and wife, Robyn Omundsen Smith, regardless of the outcome this weekend.

"I owe Robyn so much for all the hard work she's put in to this as well - I might have pumped the iron but she's done everything else - and win or lose at the nationals, we'll be going to the worlds. Nothing could keep us away."