Paula Ranta, a 26-year-old from Finland, has won professional shows in three different divisions.
- Figure: the 2022 Europa Pro Championships.
- Women’s Physique: the 2025 Chicago Pro, then the 2026 New York Pro and Pittsburgh Pro, eight days apart.
- Women’s bodybuilding: the 2026 Tampa Pro, on 1 August. It was her first bodybuilding show.
Eight weeks later she stood in the Ms. Olympia final four.
Five years, three divisions
Her professional record in the NPC archive runs to 34 placings. Read in order, it tells the story on its own.
| Years | Division | Best result |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–2023 | Figure | 1st, Europa Pro Championships 2022 |
| 2024–July 2026 | Women’s Physique | 1st, Chicago Pro 2025 · New York Pro 2026 · Pittsburgh Pro 2026 |
| August 2026– | Women’s bodybuilding | 1st, Tampa Pro 2026 · 4th, Ms. Olympia 2026 |
In Figure she won a pro show and reached the 2022 Figure Olympia. In Physique she won three pro shows and reached the 2025 Women’s Physique Olympia, where she placed ninth. Each time, she kept growing out of the division she was in.
“I’m too big”
This summer the judges started saying it out loud. In July her team told BTS TV, as Generation Iron reported, that judges Steve Weinberger and Tyler Manion had described her as sitting “on the edge” between Physique and bodybuilding. For the Chicago Pro they brought her in almost eight pounds lighter, on purpose, to fit Physique.
She still finished second in Physique, and the advice didn’t change:
“After every show Tyler, Steve, Sandy… they say, ‘Try Women’s Bodybuilding.'”
She had always thought she would be too small for it. Then she looked at the photos from Chicago:
“I always think I’m too small for Women’s Bodybuilding… But when I look at the pictures from Chicago… I’m too big.”
Fourteen days
Her coach, Ville Rekola, called Tampa a trial run. The plan for her first bodybuilding show was the opposite of Chicago: bring her in as full as possible, at around 78 to 80 kilograms, and keep the conditioning that had made her known in Physique.
On 1 August, fourteen days after Chicago, she won the Tampa Pro. Alida Opre was second and Ranya Temizkan third.
The final four
That win qualified her for the Ms. Olympia. On 25 September she was in the first callout, between the champion and the runner-up.
She finished fourth, behind Andrea Shaw, Ashley Lynnette Jones and Leyvina Rodrigues Barros, and ahead of Meghan Morrison, who had made the same jump from Physique three weeks after her, and of five women who had all competed in bodybuilding longer than she had. Fitness Volt’s prejudging report put it simply: “Fans were also blown away with Paula Ranta, who heads into the finals with true momentum.”
She is 26. Her coach says she still has years of growth ahead. Finland already has a Ms. Olympia champion: Ritva Elomaa won the title in 1981. Every result on the way to Ranta’s fourth place is on her page.
Sources
- Professional record: NPC News Online contest archive, Paula Ranta
- The move to bodybuilding, her words and her coach’s: Generation Iron, 21 Jul 2026
- Tampa Pro: Generation Iron · New York Pro: Generation Iron
- 2026 Ms. Olympia: Generation Iron, Fitness Volt, Fitness Volt prejudging report
- Ritva Elomaa: Ms. Olympia, Wikipedia
Your verdict · 2026 Olympia
Ms. Olympia 2026: Barros third, Ranta fourth. Right call?
Leyvina Rodrigues Barros was third for the second year running. Paula Ranta was eight weeks into women's bodybuilding.
Official 3. Leyvina Rodrigues Barros · 4. Paula Ranta · source
