SASUKE 22

Intro
The 22nd Competition, official name: SASUKE2009春 (literally SASUKE 2009 Spring), is the fifth tournament since Nagano Makoto's kanzenseiha in SASUKE 17. Preliminary trials were held before this tournament. The SASUKE 22 Trials had seven representatives and the United States had four. Before this tournament started, the executive producer of the show was changed.

Due to the great results of SASUKE 21, two new obstacles were added into the First Stage. Replacing the Pole Maze, the Circle Hammer was added as the second obstacle and functioned as a time waster, although it eliminated several joke competitors. The Log Grip was moved to the third obstacle to accommodate for the Circle Hammer. The Slider Jump was also added, replacing the Flying Chute as the seventh obstacle. This was a new and harder First Stage, that eliminated competitors such as Yamamoto Shingo, Akiyama Kazuhiko, Takeda Toshihiro, Yamada Katsumi, Nagano Makoto, Komiya Rie, Paul Anthony Terek, Olivia Munn, Luci Romberg, David Campbell, and Levi Meeuwenberg. The course was much tougher and time limit was much stricter in this tournament. The broadcast was also severly cut up and placed out of order, unlike previous tournaments, causing confusion on what number was next. Only 5 competitors managed to clear the First Stage, including two competitors from SASUKE Trial, Kanno Hitoshi and Urushihara Yuuji. For the second time in SASUKE history, the last ten competitors (#91-100) failed. Also for the second time in history, all 5 SASUKE All-Stars that competed failed (the first time for both of these incidents was in SASUKE 19). This tournament was notable as the only SASUKE tournament were all four grand champions (including future SASUKE champions Urushihara Yuuji and Morimoto Yūsuke) competed together.

In the Second Stage, all five competitors cleared the Salmon Ladder, and a Shin-SASUKE record 4 competitors got past the Second Stage and advanced to the Third Stage.

The Third Stage was proven to be a rise of the new stars, as competitors from SASUKE Trial went the furthest. Kanno Hitoshi, in his first attempt at the Third Stage, managed to beat the Shin-Cliffhanger (the obstacle that only Nagano Makoto and Takeda Toshihiro had beat before). He eventually made it all the way to the Spider Flip, before getting disqualified. Urushihara Yuuji breezed through most of the Third Stage, and became the first competitor (since Shiratori Bunpei in SASUKE 12) to beat the Third Stage on his first attempt, and for the first time since SASUKE 17 a competitor completed the Third Stage.

With his clear, the new Final Stage was finally known, which consisted of the 13-meter Heavenly Ladder and 10-meter G-Rope (new name for the Tsuna Nobori). The time limit was also increased for the first time ever (from 30 seconds to 45 seconds). However, Urushihara came just inches short of kanzenseiha.

Obstacles
① Rokudantobi 六段跳び

② ^Circle Hammer サークルハンマー

③ Log Grip ロッググリップ

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 ^Slider Jump スライダージャンプ

⑧ Tarzan Rope ターザンロープ

⑨ Rope Ladder ロープラダー

Time Limit: 120 seconds

Length: 102m

^ Denotes New Obstacle

 * Denotes Obstacle Modification

Obstacles
① Downhill Jump ダウンヒルジャンプ

② Salmon Ladder サーモンラダー

③ Stick Slider スティックスライダー

④ Swing Ladder スウィングラダー

⑤ Metal Spin メタルスピン

⑥ Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

Time Limit: 80 seconds

^ Denotes New Obstacle

 * Denotes Obstacle Modification

Obstacles
① Arm Ring アームリング

② Kudari Lamp Grasper 下りランプグラスパー

③ Devil Steps デビルステップス

④ Shin-Cliffhanger 新クリフハンガー

⑤ Jumping Bars ジャンピングバー

⑥ Hang Climbing ハングクライミング

⑦ Spider Flip スパイダーフリップ

⑧ Gliding Ring グライディングリング

^ Denotes New Obstacle

 * Denotes Obstacle Modification

Obstacles
① ^Heavenly Ladder ヘブンリーラダー (13m)

② ^G-Rope Gロープ (10m)

Time Limit: 45 seconds

Length: 23m

^ Denotes New Obstacle

 * Denotes Obstacle Modification