Rene Kaselowsky

René Kaselowsky, also known by his stage name René Casselly (レネ・キャスリー), is a German circus artist and is considered one of the most successful competitors of Ninja Warrior Germany.

Personal Life
Kaselowsky is part of a circus family that has been performing with elephants for 7 generations. Therefore, he is specialized in floor gymnastics and acrobatics.

At the age of 6 he performed for the first time at a circus festival in Romania. In 2012, at the age of 15, René Casselly and his family won the Clown d'Or (Best Circus Act) at the Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo, the most famous circus festival in the world held every January in Monaco.

In June 2021, the René Casselly family opened the Kimba Elefánt Park in the Hungarian village Töltéstavá. The amusement park includes the restaurant Kimba Cafe, a children's playground, bumper cars, a carousel, and a petting zoo. With opening the park, the familiy "retired" from travelling with the circus. He invested his entire NWG6 prize money of €300,000 in his animals and in park.

Ninja Warrior Germany 2
In 2017, René Casselly participated in the second season of Ninja Warrior Germany and was one of the breakout stars alongside parkour and freerunning athlete Benjamin Grams. He made it to the finals. In the end, he failed the Cliffhanger in Stage Three and became second after the sports climber and student Moritz Hans.



Team Ninja Warrior Germany 1
In 2017, his team Magic Monkeys (René Casselly, Simon Brunner and Denise Pirnbacher) struggled through the competition, but they surprisingly won the first season of Team Ninja Warrior Germany.

Ninja Warrior Germany 3
In Ninja Warrior Germany 3, Casselly made it to the finals again. This time he failed the Floating Boards in Stage Three, one obstacle earlier than last time. He lost his balance on the way from the last board to the safe ground.

Four Nations Special 1
The first Four Nations Special was attended by the UK, France, Spain and Germany. The German team dominated the competition with ease. The two nations with the most points, Germany and Spain, competed against each other in the Final Stage. Casselly competed for Germany in Stage Four and was able to win for Germany by climbing the 20m Rope Climb faster than his Spanish opponent Eric López.

Team Ninja Warrior Germany 2
His team Magic Monkeys (René Kaselowsky, Simon Brunner and Stefanie Noppinger) competed with a new female cast. The team could repeat their victory although René Casselly had a training injury on his foot since the beginning of the season, which caused him obvious pain.

Ninja Warrior Germany 4
In Ninja Warrior Germany 4, Casselly made it to the finals for the third time in his third appearance. But he surprisingly failed the Leaps of Faith in Stage Two and became eighth. His disappointment was so great that he considered no longer participating in his post-run interview.

Four Nations Special 2
The second Four Nations Special was attended by Japan, Spain, the USA and Germany. In Stage One, Casselly set the fastest time of all participants. Germany got the maximum number of points in this heat with three points. In Stage Three, Casselly failed the Cliffhanger. Germany got two points in this heat. In the end, the USA and Germany led with the same number of points. So they competed against each other in Stage Four. Alexander Wurm lost the decisive duel by climbing the Rope Climb 1 second slower than Drew Drechsel for the United States. Germany became second.

Ninja Warrior Germany 5
In Ninja Warrior Germany 5, Casselly made it to the finals for the fourth consecutive time in his fourth appearance. This time he managed to clear Stage Two, taking revenge on his last failure of the fourth season. In Stage Three, however, he failed the Time Bomb and became third after sports climber Kim Marschner and Alexander Wurm.

Ninja Warrior Germany 6
Casselly would return in Ninja Warrior Germany 6 for his fifth appearance, where he grabbed the fastest time in his prelimenary heat. Despite losing to Alexander Wurm in the Power Tower matchup for a chance to have an automatic qualification to the finals, Casselly would grab the third fastest time in the semifinals, qualifying him to the finals for the fifth straight season.

This time, he would return to the Stage Three, taking revenge on the Time Bomb and with the slight modification of adding a rest bar between the obstacle and the Flying Bar, he would clear Stage Three, advancing him to Stage Four. With Moritz Hans attempting the stage first, Hans cleared the 20 meter rope climb with 1.08 seconds remaining which meant that Casselly must be faster than the time remaining to be the champion of the competition. Casselly would have a fast pace in attempting the rope climb and managed to clear the stage with 2.99 seconds remaining, making him just the second competitor to achieve Total Victory in Ninja Warrior Germany. Since Casselly cleared the stage faster than Hans, Casselly would receive the cash prize of €300,000. Meanwhile Moritz Hans would receive a €25,000 cash prize.



SASUKE
René Kaselowsky was the German Representative at SASUKE 37. He was the first German participant in SASUKE ever. He started with the number 88. He was able to clear the First Stage although he needed two attempts for the Soritatsu Kabe due to the exhaustion in his legs from the previous obstacle. He finished the First Stage with a somersault and his remaining time was 4.05 seconds. He also cleared the Second Stage with the remaining time of 11.46 seconds. In the Third Stage, he had no trouble with any obstacle, clearing the new Cliffhanger Dimension (but with disabled motors) and showing no signs of struggle on the Vertical Limit. He then cleared the Pipe Slider effortlessly with only a little momentum by just reaching with his left leg, advancing him to the Final Stage along with Tada Tatsuya.

His run in the Final Stage didn't go to plan as he initially jumped the buzzer and restarted his run as the timer actually started. He had a strong pace through the Spider Climb and the first half of the Salmon Ladder Jūgo Dan. However, after 9 of 15 rungs he waited a moment. From the transition of the 10th to 11th rung he then slipped two rungs on one side. In an attempt to correct this, he fell two rungs down and the bar was still not even. A second attempt at a correction completely derailed the bar and ended his run. Bad weather conditions which might have made the rungs slippery were suggested as a possible reason for this. Kaselowsky, however, denied this and stated that it was a little mistake by him because he was too hectic.

Trivia

 * His stage name is René Casselly Jr. or simply René Casselly. In Ninja Warrior Germany he usually competes with this stage name.
 * As one of the competitors in SASUKE 37, he became the first German competitor in SASUKE.
 * After Stefanie Noppinger, Austria's representative in SASUKE 36, Kaselowsky is the second SASUKE participant from the German-speaking DACH countries.
 * By reaching the Final Stage in SASUKE 37, Kaselowsky is the first competitor since Jordan Jovtchev in SASUKE 8 who would advance to the Final Stage in his first appearance. Both are also the only Europeans to attempt the SASUKE Final Stage
 * Kaselowsky is the very first foreign competitor to clear the Vertical Limit in SASUKE.
 * In addition, his completion in the Third Stage of SASUKE 37 marked the fourth time a foreigner has attempted the Final Stage, after Kane Kosugi, Jordan Jovtchev, and Lee En-Chih.
 * However, during the SASUKE 37 broadcast, Kaselowsky was considered as only the third foreigner who attempted the Final Stage, with Jovtchev being the first and En-Chih being the second, not mentioning Kosugi's Final Stage attempt during SASUKE 8 possibly due to his Japanese heritage.
 * His introduction video in SASUKE 37 provided misleading information: It describes Kaselowsky as "2 Times Champion" while clearing the Final Stage. This strongly implies that he has won Ninja Warrior Germany twice. During the time leading up to SASUKE 37, however, he has never won Ninja Warrior Germany nor been the best in a season.
 * Instead, he was 2 times champion of the spinoff Team Ninja Warrior Germany. And the scene in which he clears the Final Stage is from the first Ninja Warrior Germany: Four Nations Special, which marked the victory for Germany vs. Spain. But this run wouldn't have been fast enough for Kanzenseiha in the regular competition.
 * Kaselowsky told how he was invited for SASUKE 37: He got in touch with Inui Masato during the production of the second Ninja Warrior Germany: Four Nations Special in July 2019. That's when Inui invited him for sushi. Kaselowsky just had to come to his show SASUKE for it.
 * His arm span is 190 cm (6'3").
 * Kaselowsky is the second person to achieve total victory in Ninja Warrior Germany, as he finished the Final Stage with 2.99 seconds remaining in Ninja Warrior Germany 6.
 * Out of every competitor who attempted the Final Stage, Kaselowsky is the first competitor to attempt the Final Stage in multiple international version, attempting during SASUKE 37 in 2019 and during Ninja Warrior Germany 6 in 2021.