Luckiest and Unluckiest Competitors

[tns8597]

Which competitors do you think got lucky and did better than their actual skill level suggests? And the opposite too. I'm giving three each, in no particular order

Luckiest:
1. Daisuke Miyazaki - barely cleared Stage 1 and he defo didn't look deserving of a Stage 3 run
2. Daisuke Nakata - he was quite consistent but I feel like he was lucky in the sense that he competed in a time where the first two stages didn't really have any upper body oriented obstacles, hence he always had a shot at Stage 3. If he competed in Shin-SASUKE he would never have made it past Stage 2 due to his poor upper body strength.
3. James Okada - cleared Stages 1 and 2 both with 0.1 seconds left (I'm still unconvinced he actually cleared Stage 2 in time) and sucked horrifically on Stage 3.

Unluckiest:
1. Takeda - think this is a pretty obvious one
2. Yamada - near total victory and two further near final stage attempts but all just came up so short, despite his obsession 
3. Shingo - did really well until he dislocated his shoulder, then his Stage 3 attempts just got worse and worse and his chances of total victory were basically over from like SASUKE 9-10. It's a shame because he was a top competitor in his early days.

I know a lot of you will put Akiyama in the former list but I personally disagree. If anything he was unluckier than luckier because of his eye sight, which kept ruining his Stage 1 runs. He was always a serious threat to Kanzen whenever he did clear Stage 1. A perfect example of this is SASUKE 12. If he'd cleared the Pipe Slider I reckon he would've cleared the Final Stage and Kanzen'd for a second time. Hence I wouldn't call him lucky.

I was also going to put Yuuji in the lucky list given that both times he achieved victory the production team wanted it to happen, in 24 they didn't make any major changes to Stage 3 despite the results of the previous tournament and they were expecting Nagano to win again. In 27 they dumbed down the entire course just so someone would win. But no one else has achieved Kanzen twice, and he's shown that he can still kick it in his 40s, so I ultimately decided against saying he was 'lucky'.

[BigT]

Luckiest:

Akira Omori - competed during an easy era. Never managed to come anywhere near his early successes.

Jordan Jovtchev - no doubt a strong competitor but he always struggled with time but almost always cleared first two stages. He had literally no time left in Sasuke 8.

Unluckiest:

Toshihiro Takeda - 13 stage 3 attempts but no clears.

Yamada Katsumi - put so much passion into show but became obsessed and it turned into a tragedy.

Kenji Takahashi - so unfortunate to fail gliding ring in Sasuke 23. When he does make it to final stage, he goes at a very good speed but gets tangled up and times out. Then add the stupid Salmon ladder disqualification and dragon glider fail that soured his retirement ceremony (which was laughable to be honest, he deserves way more respect).

Tajima Naoya - mental error cost him his final stage attempt and it seems he never recovered from it.

Sato Jun - just can't get past that cliffhanger.

Though, it is impressive of Nakata Daisuke to clear stage 1 in Sasuke 21. Almost all obstacles were new to him.

[tns8597]

Maybe I was being a bit harsh on Nakata. He did after all clear the Body Prop three times without failing, which has taken out a lot of top competitors.

I do agree with Akira Omori though as much as I like him. I’ve always wondered how he would’ve done if he made it to Stage 2 or 3 in even the post-Akiyama era. My guess is not very well especially on Stage 3, but then again who knows.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Luckiest:
01. Omori Akira
02. Miyazaki Daisuke
03. James Okada

Unluckiest:
01. Takeda Toshihiro
02. Kane Kosugi
03. Yamada Katsumi

Omori: Agree with comment above me. He compete in far easier era. I always wish he did better in second era, but he quit early. I guess he really need to sharpen his trampoline skill, given that three of his failures is contributed by trampoline jump.

Miyazaki: Dude almost fail First Stage *he was 0.97 seconds away from elimination, lucky that the increased time from SASUKE 20 wasn't changed*, and his Second Stage run was not convincing, anyway. And he did the worst from any competitor who attempt Shin-SASUKE's Third Stage *excluding Yamamoto Shingo because he was injured*.

James: He didn't even had one second with both of his First Stage time left and Second Stage time left combined *0.26 seconds + 0.1 seconds*. Also the debate of whether he cross the line in time. Not to mention that he actually got an increase of 76 numbers, from #19 to #95. Who is he until he can get that special treatment? Just a joke.

Takeda: 13 attempts on Third Stage and none result in Final Stage attempt. Crap.

Kane: Man always had problem whenever competing. SASUKE 1's Pole Bridge was poorly designed *using foam, SASUKE 2 use wood*. Met new Cliffhanger in SASUKE 4. Met new Body Prop in SASUKE 6. Met new Spider Walk version in SASUKE 7. Rain in SASUKE 8. Just too much bad luck for this guy.

Yamada: Obsession turned into tragedies. Absolute prime in early days, but after fail to stick the Pipe Slider's landing, everything went downhill.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Aug 13, 2020 16:02:52 GMT -5 BigT said:

Jordan Jovtchev - no doubt a strong competitor but he always struggled with time but almost always cleared first two stages. He had literally no time left in Sasuke 8.

Always made me laugh whenever I see his SASUKE results. He never finish First Stage with more than five seconds left on the clock, with the most being 4.9 seconds left in SASUKE 16. However, despite his struggle with time on First Stage, on Second Stage which was labeled Speed Stage, he never fail. He had 4/4 record on Second Stage, which is now the best 100% record we had from someone attempting Second Stage twice or more.

[tns8597]

That’s not true. Akira Omori and Ken Hasegawa spring to mind immediately. 4 times or more yes Jovtchev has that record.

Jovtchev I always found a huge dark horse of SASUKE. He was always quite stoic and calm but he always did really well, like All-Star level well. Yes I know he’s an Olympic gymnast, but a lot of professional foreign athletes don’t often do that well at Sasuke because it requires a lot of specific training that they don’t have time for. He’s definitely the exception.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Aug 13, 2020 16:58:32 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

That’s not true. Akira Omori and Ken Hasegawa spring to mind immediately. 4 times or more yes Jovtchev has that record.

Jovtchev I always found a huge dark horse of SASUKE. He was always quite stoic and calm but he always did really well, like All-Star level well. Yes I know he’s an Olympic gymnast, but a lot of professional foreign athletes don’t often do that well at Sasuke because it requires a lot of specific training that they don’t have time for. He’s definitely the exception.

Oh crap, you're correct. I will edit my statement a little bit.

I think because of he was a gymnast, he can always timed his movement perfectly.

[tns8597]

Another fact about Jovtchev.

He never got wet except for his Stage 3 attempts. So you’re right about him timing his moves perfectly.

His only Stage 1 fails were a timeout (inevitable given how lucky he got with time) and two Warped Wall fails which can be attributed to him being quite short.

[azn]

Lucky:
1 - Akira, pretty much agree w/ everyone else, once he failed the rolling log in 4, which was hilarious since the log joined him, he started going down. Only he and Nagano have 3 peated in final stage attempts, ironically enough they did this 10 tournaments apart.
2 - Okada, also agree,failed on the propeller bars and more importantly, cleared the 2nd stage in questionable fashion. Thx to his clear, they added a buzzer, idk why I'm saying this
3 - Hiromichi Sato, might've had high numbers on his bibs but not so his success rate, only clearing the first stage twice out of 7 attempts. Srsly tho, he was a #99!!!
4 - Shoei, Cleared w/ 0.05 left in SASUKE 8, yes he cleared w/ 9 seconds but for some reason, they upped the time of Stage 2 to 100 secs, and he used a good amount of time to apply spray. Would've easily timed out in my opinion if they kept the limit below triple digits. He is bottom on my list cause he went pretty far into the body prop, especially for his 1st attempt

Unlucky:
1 - Takeda, Just makes me sad
2 - Yamada, makes me less sad but still makes me sad
3 - Asa, 2 words, Crazy Cliffhanger
4 - Paul Hamm, Thx James Okada, really helped Paul a lot (if you don't remember, Paul cleared the 2nd stage but forgot to press the buzzer, thus D.Q)

[Ninja Relaxer]

Nagano was pretty unlucky after SASUKE 17, IMO. He could have easily had a second kanzenseiha had he not kept making silly mistakes, usually in Stage 1, that ended his run early. In SASUKE 18-23 he still looked like the best competitor to me: the fastest, the strongest, and the most confident. It's really a shame he never got that second kanzenseiha, because I know he was capable of it.

[sasukefinnja]

Luckiest:
1. Jordan Jovchev - 0.00s clear - that is actually a little bit lucky one.
2. James Okada - Close clears in stage 1 and stage 2. Really close clears.

Unluckiest:
1. Daisuke Nakata - He was a solid competitor. But everything changed one day when he unluckily crashed his motorcycle and had several surgeries in his wrists. Those injuries were clearly seen in his effort - he couldn't even beat arm rings or salmon ladder.
2. Kenji ''Kong'' Takahashi - Lost his Kanzenseiha, because his rope got strangled in Final Stage. Also was disqualified on Swap Salmon Ladder because the obstacle had mechanical error.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Aug 13, 2020 17:15:47 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

Another fact about Jovtchev.

He never got wet except for his Stage 3 attempts. So you’re right about him timing his moves perfectly.

His only Stage 1 fails were a timeout (inevitable given how lucky he got with time) and two Warped Wall fails which can be attributed to him being quite short.

Yep. The other gymnasts who compete with him *Hamm Brothers* also technically never timed out. Both of their fails in First Stage was by Soritatsu Kabe, and Paul technically finish the Second Stage in time back in SASUKE 14, just forgot to press the button.

[Deleted]

Luckiest Jessie Graff
Unluckiest Kongu Kenji Takahashi

[tns8597]

I wouldn't say Jessie Graff got lucky.

Sure she got a few extra seconds on Stages 1 and 2 but I don't doubt she would've cleared if she knew she had less time. Also, she's cleared much harder Stages 1 and 2 on ANW and ANW USA vs. the World. The Stage 2 she cleared on the latter was insanely hard, way harder than any Sasuke Stage 2. She's an insanely skilled competitor.

I agree with Kong.