Most impressive performance

[dakohosu]

Who do you think gave the most impressive performance this tournament.

For me it would have to be between #71 for making Stage 3 in his rookie effort, and Kajihara for coming joint second place in only his second attempt at Sasuke, surpassing guys like Ryo and Yoshiyuki.

Edit: just realised it wasn’t Tomohiro Mutou’s first attempt at Sasuke. He competed in 38, but still. Going from a nobody to reaching Stage 3 is still hella impressive and unexpected.

[SRW]

Kajihara and Tada!

[sasukefinnja]

For me those were Tomohiro Mutou and Yusuke Suzuki. Yusuke in stage 3 as 43 year old shows that he still got it.

[m4tt3r0x]

Tada

[dakohosu]

I remember in the chat box Hioki cleared Stage 2 and everyone including myself was like ‘yeah this next guy is gonna fail’ and he actually clears. His Stage 3 attempt left a lot to be desired but given that he doesn’t seem to train for Sasuke him just reaching that far was hella impressive. So many competitors train on obstacle replicas daily and he surpassed 90% of them.

Kajihara for me was especially impressive as he came 2nd place going farther than a lot of big names including those expected to do well on Stage 3. He was also really fast on both Stages 1 and 2. Everyone was right on the Guessing Game to position him as the Dark Horse.

While we’re here I’d say the most underwhelming performance would probably be Matsuda or Keitaro. Matsuda because he was a favourite to clear Stage 1 after last time but once again regressed. Keitaro because while it was an incredible moment to watch him finally break through Stage 2, he ultimately massively under delivered on his Stage 3 performance. Yes, the Sidewinder poles were moving but it was his jump that was the issue so he wouldn’t have made it regardless. I suppose it’s hard to be impressed after 5-6 years of saying ‘if Keitaro reaches Stage 3....’ but yeah.

[azn]

Despite it ending so familiarly, Hioki clearing the Swing Edge/Falling Shelves with 2 reverse grip jumps was very impressive, I don't remember him training for a similar movement on his channel or in a promo vid so if it was his first go at that transition, well done to him cause he gave a lot of us false hope.

[dragstar]

#31 is probably one of the younger stage 1 clearers we have now. Yoshiyuki and Kajihara also blazed through stage 1.

If I based it on solely Stages 1 to 2, Yoshiyuki had the best.

[LusitaniaAngel313]

Why am I more impressed by how fast Hioki was in stage 1? That honestly shocked me. He also showed it in stage 3 and yet he still fails the exact same spot as usual. Oh well...