Walker built a seven-point lead on Friday, Dauda won Saturday night, and two points decided the Sandow for the second year in a row.Both of those things are true, and the official scorecard shows exactly how.

Walker finished on 18 points and Dauda on 20, a two-point margin in a sport where the lowest score wins. Walker built his lead on Friday, and Dauda nearly erased it on Saturday.

Here is what the numbers say, and what the three men at the top said once the scores were in.

How the Mr. Olympia is scored

The Men’s Open is judged over two nights, and the IFBB Pro League rulebook is short on the subject: “The Judging and Finals are each valued at 50% of the final score.” Friday’s prejudging and Saturday’s finals count the same. In each round the judges rank the athletes, and a round score adds up the placings that count, so the lower the number, the more first-place votes behind it.

The two round scores are then added together for the final total.That split is unusual. In Men’s 212, Classic Physique, Men’s Physique, Wheelchair and Ms. Olympia, the rules value the prejudging at 100%, and the finals only count if the head judge calls a scored “confirmation round.” That is why the finals column is blank on those scorecards. Fitness goes the other way, with its finals, which include the routine, worth 67%.

The Mr. Olympia is the only men’s title where Saturday night is worth exactly half.These are the official round scores for the top three from the IFBB Pro League scorecard. Lower is better. Walker won Friday by a single point over Lunsford, with Dauda well back in third. On Saturday the order flipped. Dauda’s finals score of 5 matched the lowest score recorded in any round all weekend, across all 12 divisions, and it was the only 5 in the Men’s Open. Walker’s 10 and Lunsford’s 15 put them second and third on the night.

Run the two nights separately and you get two different champions. On Friday’s scores alone, Walker wins by one point over Lunsford. On Saturday’s scores alone, Dauda wins. Added together, Walker’s seven-point lead from prejudging survived Dauda’s five-point win in the finals, and that left two points between them. The full card for every competitor is in our 2026 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding results.