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Post by m4tt3r0x on Jan 14, 2021 14:00:10 GMT -5
I first of all have to disagree with the Kong comment. I always saw him as one of the best aged competitors. Sure he failed the Reverse Conveyor in one of his last tournaments which is something I don't think anyone would had expected, but the guy attempted the Crazy Cliffhanger twice past the age Kanno is now alone.
Anyway, injuries aside I don't see why any serious competitor under 40 doesn't have what it takes to go far given the proper training. Even past 40. The Japanese notoriously lose leg strength faster than say competitors we've seen on ANW, but among the Japanese themselves I think Yuuji in particular has proven that one you can slay your own dragons even past 40. Yuuji only started weight training well into his late 30s/past his prime, and look where it got him.
Granted this is implying I'm expecting someone like Kanno to train excessively. I don't necessarily think that because Kanno was always a well rounded competitor like Tomo in that you could rely on him beating the first two Stages and at least having more than a prayer against a Cliffhanger obstacle. If Kanno wasn't injured I'd say it wouldn't be a "no way" scenario like you said in the previous post to get back to Stage 3, but actually quite possible.
With his injuries I still don't think it's that unlikely either. His last two fails were strictly technique errors and his achilles seems at the very least perfectly fine to get him past Stage 1.
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Post by PizzaKing57 on Jan 14, 2021 14:56:48 GMT -5
I'm now starting to change my mind about Kanno returning to form again, as I wasn't confident in him beating the 1st Stage in this tournament, which is why I predicted a Warped Wall fail, as I thought he'd nail the Dragon Glider this time, due to practising for it in his channel intro and that in the obstacle's debut, he nearly cleared but just fell short of the landing. Also what makes it even worse is that he hasn't even passed the 1st Stage in over five and a half years now and that he's in his mid-30s now, which gives him even less confidence.
However, when I saw him on the live broadcast failing that Dragon Glider for a third straight time, by back flipping straight into the water after he reached the end of the first track, it looked funny to me and also looked like he wasn't even trying to clear the obstacle, but instead fail on purpose. And I have to agree with you, he is definitely the new Yamada of the younger generation, as despite the amount of injuries he has sustained, he's still trying to keep competing which I find to be unhealthy if you ask me. He really deserves early 70s or lower in future tournaments, until he can regain himself again which I don't think will happen.
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Post by Ninja Relaxer on Jan 15, 2021 23:09:18 GMT -5
I don't think it's going to happen. I just get this sense that his head's not in the game and he's kind of given up on Sasuke. It's like he's just going through the motions at this point and only competing because he keeps getting invited back.
Maybe he can make it back to Stage 3, but I would find it surprising if he did. And there's no way he'll make it to the Final Stage, much less Kanzenseiha. He's too far past his prime.
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tns8597
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Post by tns8597 on Jan 16, 2021 13:10:28 GMT -5
Ninja Relaxer agreed.
The fact that he went from 4 consecutive Stage 3 appearances in a row straight into five Stage 1 failures really goes to show how much his injury has set him back and has seemed to have a scarring effect on his performances. Mainly because he's not been able to train anywhere near as much as before, and I just don't think he has it in him to catch up. As I mentioned he's never really training Sasuke-specific obstacles anymore, rather training almost like a bodybuilder just lifting heavy weights so it's really not that surprising that he's suffering on Stage 1. He's much bulkier and less overall athletic than he was before. Granted he's never been the most effortless on Stage 1 even during his prime (Sasuke 23 and 24 being a case in point), but that was a consequence of him making a lot of mental errors rather than physical setbacks. In his Sasuke 37 run by comparison, he just came across as really stiff/nowhere near as nimble as he was before, and even came close to failing the Quad Steps; he clearly doesn't have the stamina, speed, or fitness that he did before, so much that I know a lot of people will say 'what if' he cleared the Dragon Glider, but I'm almost certain he'd fail the Warped Wall due to said lack of stamina. I just don't see him in the same light of ability as I did pre-Sasuke 32.
I'm overall not too hopeful as you can tell; also given said injuries it's not like it's a Ryo situation where if he makes it past Stage 1 he has a real shot at the Final Stage. I personally doubt think he'll clear Stage 1 again for the above reasons (and if he does it would HAVE to be before he gets injured again or approaches 40, as there his stamina and injury potential will really work against him even more than it already has), but if he does I'm pretty sure he'll go out on Stage 2 now with the addition of the Rolling Log; with that additional hindrance and the really strict time limit, Kanno would be way too slow and out of practice to have a shot of making it. If he were to make Stage 3 (though as you can probably tell I'm saying this as a COMPLETE hypothetical), I don't see him displaying anywhere near the performances of old, even if he can clear the 180 jump in practice. I would even go as far as to say that he'd likely fail even before the Cliffhanger.
As I said the one thing that surprises me is how unlike people like Nagasaki or Ryo who clearly just don't care as much as they did before, Kanno, despite falling into the same category in terms of results and attitude towards training vs other responsibilities, seems to still really value Sasuke as a priority given that he said that it was his life in his post-Sasuke 37 interview. That I found a bit of a juxtaposition compared to him not training towards beating the Stage 1 that has plagued his chance to realise his 'dream' rather just beating his old bench press max (which with a background in fitness I can tell you means f*** all when it comes to Sasuke), at least what can be deduced from his Instagram posts.
Based on what I've seen from things like the Sasuke guessing game and YouTubers, it seems that a fair few people are equally as pessimistic. I'd love to be proven wrong though; comebacks are always a joy to watch as we've seen from Yuuji recently.
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