SASUKE 26

Intro
The 26th competition, official name: SASUKE2011謹賀新年 (literally: SASUKE 2011 Happy New Year) is the second tournament after Urushihara Yuuji's kanzenseiha in SASUKE 24. The tournament was recorded on October 19, 2010 and aired on January 2, 2011 as part of TBS' New Years Specials. Due to sharing a time slot with another show, the broadcast of the tournament was much shorter than previous tournaments, resulting in many competitor's runs getting either cut or digested.

For the second time in three tournaments, no domestic trials competition ever materialized. However, American Ninja Warrior returned for its second season (concluding the previous August), and similar to the first season, ten competitors were sent. For the first time ever, footage of a SASUKE tournament hit the airwaves before the TBS broadcast (the ten Americans that qualified through American Ninja Warrior had their runs shown in North America on December 23, 2010). A Taiwanese trials competition was also planned, but was subsequently canceled. Despite this, the venerable Lee En-Chih was invited by TBS to compete.

Only three SASUKE All-Stars were able to attend this competition (Akiyama Kazuhiko, Shiratori Bunpei, and Takeda Toshihiro, all had prior engagements). Also notably absent was Levi Meeuwenberg, who qualified for the tournament but subsequently broke his wrist and had to be replaced.

The First Stage was heavily modified from SASUKE 25. With the removal of the Rolling Maruta and Log Grip, this was the first tournament ever to not feature a log obstacle. Only three obstacles (the Soritatsu Kabe, Tarzan Rope, and Rope Ladder) returned from the previous tournament. The Jumping Spider and Half Pipe Attack returned after one tournament hiatus. Four new obstacles made their debuts (the Step Slider, Hazard Swing, and Rolling Escargot began the stage, and the Giant Swing added before the Tarzan Rope). The new obstacles did their damage, as the Rolling Escargot eliminated at least 19 competitors, including top competitors such as Takahashi Kenji, Kanno Hitoshi, Miyazaki Daisuke, and Yamamoto Shingo. Yamada Katsumi's return engagement did not go as he hoped, as he failed at the Jumping Spider (in a remarkably similar fashion as in SASUKE 22). Nagano Makoto also failed at the Jumping Spider, meaning that no SASUKE All-Star made it halfway through the First Stage. The Giant Swing only eliminated Adam Truesdell. Tajima Naoya run was cut completely (although it is known he failed at the Jumping Spider), and Urushihara Yuuji failed at the Half Pipe Attack, meaning no former champion beat the First Stage, and no Grand Champion beat the First Stage for the first time since SASUKE 19.

Ten competitors cleared the First Stage. However, for the first time ever, more foreign competitors made it to the Second Stage than domestic competitors, giving the rest of the competition a decidedly international flavor and sparking some national pride from the Japanese competitors that remained. A record six foreign competitors passed the First Stage, beating the old record of four (which was set in SASUKE 23). Among the six foreign competitors, five of them were Americans, which also beat the previous record of three (also set in SASUKE 23). Two American rookies (Paul Kasemir and Brent Steffensen) joined two American sophomores (Travis Furlanic and David Campbell), as first-time Second Stage competitors, along with two SASUKE veterans (Brian Orosco and Taiwan's Lee En-Chih). Domestically, Ishikawa Terukazu, Iketani Naoki, Okuyama Yoshiyuki and Hashimoto Koji cleared the First Stage.

The Second Stage remained unmodified from the last tournament. Iketani, who had competed sporadically over the last few years and hadn't cleared the First Stage since SASUKE 16, was erased by the Double Salmon Ladder, and so did Ishikawa. The Balance Tank claimed Travis Furlanic, while the Metal Spin eliminated Hashimoto Koji. Paul Kasemir, Brent Steffensen, and David Campbell all cleared the Second Stage, doing so in their first attempts. Brian Orosco and Lee En-Chih also cleared. Okuyama Yoshiyuki was the only Japanese competitor to get past this stage, doing so with a mere 0.3 seconds left. This was also the first tournament in history in which Second Stage attempts were run out of order, with Okuyama's run being shown after Hashimoto's fail (despite being #97 compared to Hashimoto's #98, likely to make it appear as though the last Japanese competitor standing was the only one who clears, to create suspense). For this reason, Hashimoto's number was not shown in his competitor description at the start of his run, though it could be seen that he was wearing his number.

The Third Stage introduced one new obstacle, the Cycling Road, replacing the Floating Boards. The Roulette Cylinder was modified to include two drops into the track, much like when the Rolling Maruta morphed into the Sandan Rolling Maruta in SASUKE 13. While newcomer Paul Kasemir failed at the Doorknob Grasper, Brian Orosco failed at the Roulette Cylinder, marking the first time he did not make it past his previous failure point. David Campbell, Brent Steffensen, Lee En-Chih, and Okuyama Yoshiyuki, all made it to the Ultimate Cliffhanger. While progress was made, little more than half the obstacle was cleared with Lee and Okuyama making it the furthest and the tournament ended here.

Obstacles
① ^Step Slider ステップスライダー

② ^Hazard Swing ハザードスイング

③ ^Rolling Escargot ローリングエスカルゴ

④ *Jumping Spider ジャンピングスパイダー

⑤ Half-Pipe Attack ハーフパイプアタック

⑥ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁

⑦ ^Giant Swing ジャイアントスイング

⑧ Tarzan Rope ターザンロープ

⑨ Rope Ladder ロープラダー

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Time Limit: 130 seconds

Obstacles
① Slider Drop スライダードロップ

② Double Salmon Ladder ダブルサーモンラダー

③ Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ

④ Balance Tank バランスタンク

⑤ Metal Spin メタルスピン

⑥ Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

Time Limit: 95 seconds

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① *Roulette Cylinder ルーレットシリンダー

② *Doorknob Grasper ドアノブグラスパー

③ ^Cycling Road サイクリングロード

④ *Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー

⑤ Swing Circle スイングサークル

⑥ Rope Climb ロープクライム

⑦ Flying Bar フライングバー

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle