Drew Drechsel

Drew Drechsel (ドリュー・ドレッシェル) is an American gym owner, American Ninja Warrior champion, and one of the most successful foreigners to ever compete on SASUKE.

SASUKE
Dreschel made it to SASUKE 27 via tryouts in American Ninja Warrior 3. While in Japan, he made good time through the first half of the First Stage, but on the Half-Pipe Attack, he landed awkwardly on the log and tore his right ACL and MCL, his meniscus, and cracked his femur and chipped his tibia. He attempted to get up the Soritatsu Kabe, but he couldn't put pressure on his leg without causing himself serious pain and was forced to withdraw from the competition for his own health. He was the only American to fail the First Stage as the others cleared it.He returned as the lone American representative and as the 2014 ASEAN OPEN CUP champion in SASUKE 30. In the sidelines he was dressed up as his idol Goku from Dragon Ball. Meanwhile, he was able to finish the First Stage with the 3rd fastest time (28.90 seconds remaining). In Second Stage, he beat the Unstable Bridge this time, but almost slipped at the end of the Spider Drop. He finished the course with the 2nd fastest time (9.45 seconds remaining), missing the fastest time by .55 of a second. In Third Stage, Drew beat the first 3 obstacles, but then fell on the Crazy Cliffhanger.

In SASUKE 31, he finished the First Stage with the second fastest time, though almost got eliminated on the new Rolling Hill. In the Second Stage, he finished the course. Controversy arose in the Third Stage when Dreschel used a new technique on the Crazy Cliffhanger in which he positioned his body to directly face the 4th ledge while still hanging on the 3rd ledge. He successfully made the transition to the 4th ledge and subsequently completed the obstacle, but was later informed by the production crew that his technique was unacceptable. He was disqualified, but was given another chance to complete the Crazy Cliffhanger. On his second attempt, which was shown in the broadcast, he used the traditional technique of doing a quick mid-air turnaround in the transition from the 3rd to the 4th ledges. He was unable to get a firm grip on the 4th ledge and failed.

He competed in SASUKE 32, wearing 93. His First Stage performance was quick as previously, however on the Soritatsu Kabe he noticed that it was wet and frosty, and took a lot of time to dry off his shoes and failed one attempt. He still managed to clear but with only 2.63 seconds remaining. After this, the remaining 7 competitors were told that they were to compete the next day as the slippery frosty conditions made it unfair and unsafe for them. Dreschel's Second Stage run was digested but he was shown to clear. In the Third Stage, he competed the first three obstacles with ease, and then completed the new Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger on his first attempt, being the first competitor to do so. However, the new Third Stage was redesigned so the Vertical Limit Kai is directly followed the Cliffhanger with no rest. Drew managed to grip on to the Vertical Limit, however immediately lost his grip and fell. He went the furthest of all competitors in that tournament.

In SASUKE 33, Dreschel competed wearing number 96. He stormed through the First Stage with a tournament high of 31.31 seconds left. His Second Stage attempt was also comfortable in regards to time, as he passed with 7.83 seconds remaining - a time only bettered by Morimoto Yūsuke. With this, Drechsel had returned to the Third Stage for a fourth time in succession, and although he was the only man to reach the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger as well as successfully complete the first transition, he was unable to repeat his SASUKE 32 feat of hanging onto the moving ledge, as he went too late, with the moving ledge start to move up when he made the second transition, as a result he fell into the water. With the other remaining competitors only being able to make it as far as the Flying Bar, Drechsel finished SASUKE 33 as the competitor who went the furthest once again, thus becoming the fourth competitor to go the furthest two competitions in a row, after Nagano Makoto, Urushihara Yuuji, and Lee En-Chih.

Drew competed in SASUKE 34 as one of the two American representatives, (the other being Jessie Graff) wearing number 97, his second highest number to date. In the tournament, he finished the First and Second Stage with no problem at all, but on the Third Stage, history repeated itself as he failed the exact same place as last tournament, failing the transition to the third ledge of the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger. This time, he went too early, with the ledge still moving down as he made the second transition.

He returned for a seventh time in SASUKE 35 wearing number 98, his highest number to date in SASUKE. Just like the past 5 tournaments, he finished the First and Second Stage with ease. In the Third Stage he managed to clear the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, the second time he cleared it. Unfortunately, he failed on the first ledge of the Vertical Limit, unlike SASUKE 32, he managed to get hold of the ledge and made it halfway before falling.

He returned for a eighth time in SASUKE 36, once again wearing number 97. He cleared the First Stage with the fastest time and he was looking to clear the Second Stage for the seventh consecutive time. But unfortunately he went down the ramp from the Backstream too fast and slid off the mat, resulting in a course out. They let him continue his run, but was disqualified after he cleared. He cleared with over 25 seconds left, which would have made him made him get to the Third Stage for the 7th time in a row if he wasn't disqualified. This was his first time failing the Second Stage in SASUKE, and he lost his streak of making it to the Third Stage.

Drew didn't compete in SASUKE 37, due to the fact that his wife is pregnant. This marked the first time that he hasn't competed in SASUKE since SASUKE 29.

American Ninja Warrior 4
After SASUKE 27 had concluded, Dreschel had to wait a month for his leg to heal before surgery, then he sought out a physical therapist named Joyce Shahboz and thanks to several months of intense physical therapy his knee was healed up and Drew was even better than ever. In American Ninja Warrior 4, Drew returned stronger and finished the Southeast Qualifier in 2nd place behind David Rodriguez. In the regional finals Drew managed to finish the course and managed to earn a spot in the top 15 with the fastest time. In the Vegas Finals, Drew did some showboating on Stage One and avenged his defeat on the Half-Pipe Attack to beat the First Stage, but on Stage Two he misjudged his dismount on Unstable Bridge and spun backwards into the water. At the time, Drew worked at Magic Imports of Gainesville, and ran a gym in Gainesville.

American Ninja Warrior 5
Dreschel came back in American Ninja Warrior 5 in Miami and completed the qualifying and finals course with the fastest time, defeating David Rodriguez both times. In the Las Vegas finals, Drew blew through Stage One, but in Stage Two, history repeated itself as he failed the Unstable Bridge, when he failed the transition to the second bridge after his right hand didn't position properly.

American Ninja Warrior 6
In American Ninja Warrior 6, Dreschel was able to beat the Miami Qualifying course with the fastest time of any of the city qualifiers (44 seconds). In the Miami Finals, he promised to shatter the all-time speed record in a city finals by defeating the whole course in less than two minutes. Shockingly, though, he failed the Downhill Pipe Drop when he couldn't get a grasp on the rope.

American Ninja Warrior 7
Dreschel competed in American Ninja Warrior 7 having decided to put his rivalry with Rodriguez aside and performed well by finishing the Orlando Qualifying course with the seventh fastest time. In the Orlando finals, he did the same slow-paced approach to the course and managed to complete the first half of the course easily. On the back half of the course, he used an unorthodox strategy to the Salmon Ladder by facing the obstacle in the opposite direction and completed it. He was able to clear Cannonball Alley with finesse, but nearly failed the Double Helix by making a miraculous backwards leap to the platform. His foot nearly touched the water but he still completed the obstacle. But due to his low grip strength after completing the obstacles, his grip gave out on the Invisible Ladder. However, he still qualified for the Vegas Finals, finishing in 4th place. In Vegas, he completed Stage One and got his revenge on the Unstable Bridge, completing Stage Two. In Stage Three, he completed the first three obstacles and conquered the modified Ultimate Cliffhanger. He passed the Pole Grasper, but struggled on the Hang Climb and subsequently fell while trying to transition to the resting bar before Area 51. He was a competitor for Team USA in the third American Ninja Warrior International Tournament.

American Ninja Warrior 8
Dreschel returned in American Ninja Warrior 8, competing this time in the Atlanta region. He obliterated the Qualifying course and finished with the fastest time of the night. He also finished the city finals course with the 2nd fastest time, being only 4 seconds slower than his roommate, James McGrath (James finished in 5 Minutes and 1 Second and Drew finished in 5 minutes and 5 seconds). Drew then completed Stage One with 7.78 seconds left. On Stage Two he was one of two people who completed it along with Daniel Gil. On Stage Three, he made it all the way to the Hang Climb but just like the year before, he failed on it when he made a mental mistake and grabbed the wrong hold. He made it farther than the other Stage Two finisher, Daniel Gil. After his run and the commercial break, he was shown crying at the sidelines.

USA Vs. The World 2017
Because he went farther than anyone else in Season 8, Drew got to be team captain for Team USA in the USA Vs. the World Competition. Initially Drew was supposed to run on heat three on Stage Two but he gave up his spot to Jessie Graff so he could be fresh for his attempt at Stage Three. During his run on Stage Three, Drew had his headphones on and was listening to music while running the course, during his run he successfully got his revenge on the Hang Climb and hit the buzzer at the end of Stage Three, ultimately, the USA team won the competition.

American Ninja Warrior 9
In American Ninja Warrior 9, Dreschel competed in Daytona Beach and once again finished the qualifying course with the fastest time. In the Daytona Beach finals, Drew put on an impressive performance defeating the Giant Cubes, Circuit Board, and Elevator Climb with finesse and became the only finisher of the night. Overall, Drew was one of just nine athletes that completed a city finals course that season. In Vegas, Dreschel had a near flawless run on Stage One, only having a slight struggle on the Propeller Bar, and even cleared Parkour Run via the same method that Jared Woods used of skipping the rope and going straight for the landing platform and cleared with the all time fastest finish on American Ninja Warrior; 61.29 seconds remaining. On the Stage Two, Drechsel cruised through the first four obstacles clearing each and every one of them very efficiently. On Wingnut Alley, he made short work of the first two wingnuts transitioning through them with finesse. But on the transition to the final Wingnut, he took a much larger leap causing him to slightly injure his elbow. As a result, he didn't have enough energy and strength to dismount to the landing platform causing him to plummet in the water leaving everybody in utter shock. In his post-run interview, Drechsel stated that he let the crowd and other competitors get to him instead of staying in his own lane.

American Ninja Warrior 10


In American Ninja Warrior 10, Drechsel competed in Miami and despite failing to scale up the Mega Wall, he cleared the qualifying course with the fastest time once more. In the finals, Drechsel sped through the course hoping to finish with the fastest time. While he cleared the Crazy Clocks with relative ease, he shockingly fell on the Stair Hopper. Despite this, he still moved on to the National Finals, placing 4th overall. He made up for this in Vegas with another flawless run on Stage One and finishing with the second fastest time. He ended up finishing the Wingnut Alley, the obstacle that took him out last season, and Stage Two with 38.65 seconds remaining. In Stage Three, he cleared the first three obstacles with ease until he fell at the redesigned Ultimate Cliffhanger. Since he completed the Crazy Clocks faster than Sean Bryan, he was then declared as the Last Man Standing of the season and won the $100,000 cash prize.

American Ninja Warrior 11
In American Ninja Warrior 11, Drechsel competed in Atlanta as the final runner of the night. In the qualifiers, he put on an impressive run and managed to not only to scale up the Mega Wall in one try, but also finish with the second fastest time (one second slower than Tyler Gillett), thus qualifying for the Power Tower. In the Power Tower, He and Gillett were neck and neck until Gillett fell off on the swinging beam portion, allowing Drechsel to finish and earn the Speed Pass. In the City finals, Drechsel breezed through the course and finished with the fastest time and a spot on the Power Tower once more, this time alongside Kevin Carbone. From the redesigned Power Tower, Drechsel had a slow start with the rope portion, but was able to blaze through and earned the Safety Pass. In Stage One. Drechsel cleared the first four obstacles, but on the redesigned Tire Run, he fell after not getting a good jump to the second steering wheel. This marks the first time he failed Stage One since Season 3 (but also the first time failing under regular circumstances). He used the Safety Pass and was able to run Stage One again, this time clearing Tire Run and the rest of the course with 20.25 seconds to spare. On Stage Two, he used an unusual method to clear Snap Back where he turned himself around while transferring to the blind catches but ended up clearing the course (even starting Water Walls by jumping like a dolphin). In Stage Three, he was able to beat all of the obstacles with ease and make it to the Final Stage with Daniel Gil. In the Final Stage, he started fast and strong, but at around the 60ft mark, he started to slow down. Still, he wouldn't give up and kept up his pace and achieved total victory with 2.54 seconds. Daniel Gil, on the other hand, failed the Final Stage at 70ft. As a result, Drechsel finally achieved the title and the grand prize.

Personal Life & Future
On August 4th, 2020, it was reported by various news outlets that Drew had been arrested following an FBI investigation on charges of child sex offenses. The next day, NBC announced they would sever all ties with Drew, which lead to removal of older seasons from NBC's Peacock streaming service, as well as re-editing of American Ninja Warrior 12 to remove his appearance. One notable change was the unexplained exclusion of the Power Tower in the first episode due to Drew placing in the top 2.

SASUKE Producer Masato Inui discussed the situation on twitter on August 5th, and made the following statement over several tweets:"'There's a lot going on and it's disappointing. There's a guy who did something stupid... and that's that. I'm really sorry because they were a hero to many kids.'"It is presumed that Drew will not be permitted to return to SASUKE.

Drew is currently awaiting trial, which has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trivia

 * Drechsel achieved the fastest time in any city qualifying course, as he completed the Miami qualifying course in 44 seconds on American Ninja Warrior 6.
 * Drechsel also achieved the fastest finish in Stage One on American Ninja Warrior, as he completed the stage with 61.29 seconds remaining on American Ninja Warrior 9.
 * Starting from American Ninja Warrior 4, the competition where the finals were held on U.S. soil, (specifically Las Vegas) Drechsel has never failed Stage One.
 * He was taken out however by Tire Run on American Ninja Warrior 11's Stage One. But due to him having the Safety Pass, he had another attempt at Stage One and completed it.
 * Drechsel is the first and only competitor to be awarded "POM Run of the Night" 3 times in one season.
 * During Drechsel's Stage Three run in American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. The World 3, he was listening to "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from the Disney movie Mulan.
 * Drew Drechsel has been declared "Last Man Standing" more times than any other athlete on American Ninja Warrior, doing so three times on American Ninja Warrior 8, American Ninja Warrior 10, and American Ninja Warrior 11.
 * He is also the second competitor to be declared "Last Man Standing" two years in a row, the first being David Campbell on American Ninja Warrior 2 and American Ninja Warrior 3.
 * Coincidentally, when Drechsel became the Last Man Standing in American Ninja Warrior 8 and American Ninja Warrior 10, there is only one competitor apart from him who attempted Stage Three (Daniel Gil on American Ninja Warrior 8 and Sean Bryan on American Ninja Warrior 10).
 * Ironically, both Daniel Gil and Sean Bryan fell on the Ultimate Cliffhanger.
 * With Drechsel's completion of the Wingnut Alley on American Ninja Warrior 10, he stopped the trend of him failing the same obstacle two competitions in a row in American Ninja Warrior, as he failed the Unstable Bridge on American Ninja Warrior 4 and American Ninja Warrior 5; while he failed the Hang Climb on American Ninja Warrior 7 and American Ninja Warrior 8.
 * When Drew Drechsel failed an obstacle in American Ninja Warrior 10, one other competitor had failed at that obstacle and had failed at the exact same spot.
 * On the Stair Hopper in the Miami Finals, he and Jessie Graff both failed at the third step.
 * On Stage 3, he and Sean Bryan failed the leap to the final ledge on the Ultimate Cliffhanger.
 * Drechsel is the first competitor to earn a title dubbed as "Trifecta" in American Ninja Warrior 11 by,
 * Completed the Mega Wall in City Qualifying.
 * Earned the Speed Pass from the Power Tower.
 * Earned the Safety Pass from the Power Tower.
 * Drechsel is the first and only competitor to complete the Cargo Climb, the Spider Climb, the Invisible Ladder, the Elevator Climb, and the Spider Trap in the city finals. These obstacles mentioned are the final obstacles in every city finals course.
 * Coincidentally, he has only cleared these obstacles one time each.
 * Drechsel is the second competitor to win the million-dollar prize, the first being Isaac Caldiero.
 * Drechsel is the third competitor to achieve "Total Victory", the first and second being Geoff Britten and Isaac Caldiero, respectively.
 * In claiming the million-dollar prize, Drechsel has 90 days, which started after the finale of American Ninja Warrior 11, to claim the prize. He then received his check on an episode of The Ellen Show.
 * Drechsel, Geoff Britten, Isaac Caldiero, David Campbell, Mike Bernardo, Daniel Gil, and Kane Kosugi are the only 7 Americans to finish Third Stage in any SASUKE/Ninja Warrior competition.
 * Drechsel is the only competitor that utilized his Safety Pass and achieved total victory.
 * Drechsel hit the most number of buzzers in a competition at 8, doing so in American Ninja Warrior 11, consisting of the Speed and Safety passes from the Power Tower, the buzzers from the Qualifying Round, City Finals Round and Stages One to Four of the Las Vegas National Finals.
 * Drechsel is announced as one of the All-Star Ninja Mentor on American Ninja Warrior Junior.
 * In SASUKE ASEAN OPEN CUP, he won the gold medal on every competition he joined.
 * In SASUKE 31, the producers misspelled his name to "Drew Doressheru".
 * It was because they didn't know his actual last name is spelled ”Drechsel”, so they had to focus on the Romaji, which is "Doryū Doressheru," and they already knew that "Doryū" is spelled as "Drew", but they didn't know what "Doressheru" was supposed to be, so they put it as that
 * To prevent further butchering, they just put "ドリュー" as his name on the TBS competitor list website, even though it was reinstated in later tournaments. (from JonTheGreat8000)
 * Drechsel was the only competitor to attempt and finish all three versions of Sidewinder R.
 * Drechsel was the first competitor to attempt and complete the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger in SASUKE 32.
 * Drechsel stopped the trend which started from the Shin-Cliffhanger, (where no competitor completed a version of the Cliffhanger in its introductory tournament) as he completed the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger in its introductory tournament.
 * Drechsel finished SASUKE 33 as the competitor who went the furthest once again, thus becoming the fourth competitor to go the furthest two competitions in a row, after Nagano Makoto, Urushihara Yuuji, Lee En-Chih, and Morimoto Yūsuke.


 * Throughout his appearances in SASUKE, he has only failed the First Stage and the Second Stage once each.
 * Both times he failed the First Stage and Second Stage, the circumstances were odd. As in SASUKE 27, he had to withdraw due to injury at the Half Pipe Attack and in SASUKE 36, he slid off the course at the Backstream.
 * He became the first competitor to complete the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger twice, as he completed it in SASUKE 32 and SASUKE 35.
 * With Drechsel receiving number 98 in SASUKE 35, it would eventually be the second highest number given to an American in SASUKE history. David Campbell and Jessie Graff also wore the number 98 in SASUKE 27 and SASUKE 37 respectively. Levi Meeuwenberg still holds the record of receiving the highest number given to an American as he wore the number 99 in SASUKE 21.
 * He and Okuyama Yoshiyuki have the 2nd most consecutive Third Stage appearances, at 6 (30-35 for Drechsel, 22-27 for Okuyama). Takeda Toshihiro and Sato Jun holds the record for having the most consecutive Third Stage appearances, since Drechsel ended his streak by going off the course at the slide after the Backstream.
 * He considers the Vertical Limit as the hardest obstacle he has ever faced.
 * Starting on American Ninja Warrior 8, Drechsel is known for being called the "Real Life Ninja", with the nickname written in his shirt for most of his runs.
 * During the first season of American Ninja Warrior Junior, Drew was the mentor for the 9-10 year-old division.
 * As for American Ninja Warrior Junior 2, Drew was the mentor for the 13-14 year-old division.