René Casselly (レネ・キャスリー), born as René Kaselowsky, and also known as René Casselly Jr., is a German (with an additional Hungarian citizenship) circus artist, businessman and TV personality who participated in almost every regular Ninja Warrior Germany season (except for Season 1), Team Ninja Warrior Germany 1 & 2, Ninja Warrior Germany: Four Nations Special 1-3 (as a part of Team Germany) and Ninja Warrior Germany All-Stars 1 & Ninja Warrior Germany All-Stars 2. In Ninja Warrior Germany, Casselly is one of the most popular, successful, and best competitors of all the different shows and is not only well-known for his all-round athleticism and ambitious personality, but also as the first holder of the title Ninja Warrior Germany ("1. Ninja Warrior Germany"), achieving that title in Ninja Warrior Germany 6 after completing the Final Stage (Mount Midoriyama) faster than his opponent Moritz Hans, winning the aforementioned title plus the grand winner cash prize of 300,000 €.
In addition, Casselly is well-known in the SASUKE commnunity as well, with the reason being his incredible breakout performance in SASUKE 37 (in 2019), in which he not only became the first ever German SASUKE participant, but he also became the Last Man Standing of that same tournament, with Casselly making it all the way to the Final Stage.
Outside of his performances in International Ninja shows, René Casselly also participated in the 2020 National Ninja League (now known as World Ninja League), in which he made it all the way to the Third Stage of his divison.
And aside from all of his participations in International Ninja shows and the Ninja Sport, Casselly is also known to have participated in the 15th season of the German format of Dancing with the Stars (Let's Dance), which he won with his dancing partner Kathrin Menzinger.
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[]
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.
René Kaselowsky at the Cliffhanger.
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 Casselly, 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[]
René Casselly achieving Total Victory.
René Casselly, after becoming the 1. Ninja Warrior Germany.
Casselly would return in Ninja Warrior Germany 6 for his fifth appearance, where he grabbed the fastest time in his preliminary 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.
Ninja Warrior Germany 7[]
In 2022, René Casselly participated in the seventh season of Ninja Warrior Germany, despite thinking about not participating in said season a few days before the season commenced, as the reigning "Ninja Warrior Germany". This time, he first participated in the fifth, and final Preliminary Round as the final participant of said Preliminary Round and despite having a close call at the Mega Wall, with him stumbling as he was coming down from the Mega Wall after he failed to complete it by a few centimetres, but recovering himself by doing a cartwheel, he still cleared the course with a time of 02:29.84, finishing first in his Preliminary Round and advancing to the new Duel Course. In the first match of the Duel Course, René Casselly had to compete in a head-to-head race against the 4th place, which was Jun Kim and won this first match, despite stumbling a little bit on The Clacker, receiving a 5.000€ cash prize and also advancing to the final match of the Duel Course. There, he had to compete against the winner of the other match, which was the youngstar Max Görner, and won that race as well, receiving the Speed Pass, which granted him an automatic advance to the Finals. But despite the fact that René Casselly had already qualified for the Finals by winning the Duel Course matches, he still participated in the Semi-finals of the season, Casselly participated as the final participant of the second and final Semi-finals episode and due to the fact that Casselly knew that he had already qualified for the Finals, he wanted to take the risk of adavancing at a very fast pace throughout the course. This plan paid off perfectly, with René Casselly flying through the entire Semi-finals course, clearing the Semi-finals course with an astonoshing time of only 00:50.24, finishing the Semi-finals with the fastest time overall, receiving the 10,000€ cash prize and continuing his dominant performance. On the First Stage of the Finals of the seventh season, Casselly adavnced, as exspected, at a fast pace throughout the first half of the First Stage and reached the seventh, and second to last obstacle of the First Stage, the Cliffhanger, with about 00:55.00 seconds remaining on the clock. There, however, even René Casselly started to struggle, mainly due to the fact that Casselly did not come from a climbing background, as he reached the fourth ledge, as many competitors of this Finals did, and as he tried to transfer to the fifth and final ledge of the Cliffhanger, René Casselly unfortunately lost his grip and fell into the water, failing the First Stage, much to the shock of many people, since this not only meant that Casselly failed to defend his title, but this also meant that René Casselly failed the First Stage of the Finals for the very first time in his career, losing his streak of five consecutive First Stage clears in a row. But this performance, despite the fact that this was Casselly's worst ever performance in Ninja Warrior Germany was, nonethenless, good enough to achieve the 11th place overall.
Ninja Warrior Germany 8[]
On his Instagram account, René Casselly announced on June 16th, 2023, that he will be ready to return and participate in the eighth season of Ninja Warrior Germany. He then returned in the fifth preliminary round where he was one of the few to conquer Piston Plunge and got the fastest time of the night getting the shot at the Super Salmon Ladder. But he had a shocking fall on the Super Salmon Ladder where he tried to skip the fourth rung (going for the fifth rung) and derailed the bar losing the match.
He returned once again in the second Semi-finals round where René conquered the tough obstacles: Lightning Bolts and Flipped Around then finished the course with the fastest time of the Semi-finals, less than a second faster than the second place finisher winning the 10,000€ for the second year in a row.
René returned for Stage 1 where he had little trouble with the obstacles and even got revenge on the seventh obstacle, this time being the Warped Wall, conquering the course with the third fastest time going back to Stage 2. His attempt at the Second Stage went off without a hitch, setting the fastest time for a Second Stage clear for this season. While his Third Stage run went fine for the most part, he ended up failing the Cliffhanger 3.0, failing the transition to the final ledge.
SASUKE[]
SASUKE 37[]
René Casselly 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 cleared the First Stage with 4.05 seconds remaining on the clock. 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.
René Kaselowsky at the Final Stage.
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 nine 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. Casselly, however, denied this and stated that it was a little mistake by him because he was too hectic.
SASUKE 41[]
On October of 2023, René Casselly anncounced on his Instagram account that he would travel to Japan at the time of the filming of SASUKE 41. His anticipated return to SASUKE would ultimately be confirmed upon the release of the competitor list on November 22, 2023.
René competed in SASUKE 41, wearing number #93. His runs throughout the tournament were primarily about speed; he first progressed through the First Stage at a blistering pace clearing it with 43.28 seconds to spare - the second best time of that stage, only bested by Kajihara Hayate. The champion further blitzed the Second Stage clearing it with 15.58 seconds left, and although his run was digested in the main broadcast - the uncut Paravi footage revealed that he had managed to skip the lower panel of the Spider Drop entirely, similar to fellow competitor Satō Jun prior. He also flashed through the first half of Third Stage, notably making consecutive laches on the Flying Bar (a skill rarely-seen on SASUKE known as "linking"). Unfortunately, Casselly's run was cut short at the Cliff Dimension,where he failed to grab the retracting third ledge, once again ending a ninja run of his on a failed Cliffhanger transition.
Trivia[]
- His stage name is René Casselly Jr. or simply René Casselly. In Ninja Warrior Germany, he usually competes with this stage name.
- In the backyard of his residence in Hungary, René Casselly has constructed a majorly extensive Ninja Warrior training set with a lot of different obstacles & and even a 23-meter high Rope Climb Final Stage, which he called "Mount Renéyama".
- As of 2023 however, Casselly has deconstructed his old Final Stage and recreated the new Final Stage of Ninja Warrior Germany - a 32-meter high tower consisting of a Chimney Climb, Salmon Ladder & a Rope Climb.
- 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.
- Casselly 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.
- 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.
- During his First Stage run in SASUKE 37, Rene completed the stage with 4.05 seconds remaining. Interestingly, due to technical issues the timer did not stop immediately after he pressed the button, which seemingly confused René Kaselowsky at first, but stopped later at 2.08 seconds remaining.
- 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 versions, attempting during SASUKE 37 in 2019 and during Ninja Warrior Germany 6 in 2021.
- In Ninja Warrior Germany 8, he was the only athlete who have reached the Final Stage of Ninja Warrior Germany in the past to have cleared Stage 1 of the season.
- René holds the record for the most money won in regular Ninja Warrior Germany competitions with 339,000 €.
- With his First Stage clear time in SASUKE 41 of 43.28 remaining seconds, Casselly now holds the fourth best First Stage clear time in the history of SASUKE.
- This clear time is only topped by Travis Furlanic (43.90 seconds), David Campbell (44.32 seconds) and Kajihara Hayate (45.39 seconds).
- In SASUKE, Casselly himself mentioned that he is especially good friends with Satō Jun and Tada Tatsuya, and in the videos of the official SASUKE Ninja Warrior YouTube channel], in which René takes center stage, he can also usually be seen talking to the former.
Ninja Warrior Germany Results[]
| NWG | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger (Third Stage) | Failed the transition from the third to the fourth ledge. Fell between the ledges. 2nd best of the season. |
| 3 | Failed Floating Boards (Third Stage) | Failed the transition from the fourth board to the safe ground. 5th best of the season. |
| 4 | Failed Leaps of Faith (Second Stage) | Failed the transition from the third to the fourth set of handholdes. Tried to clear the reverse grab, but failed to hold onto the set of handholdes. 8th best of the season. |
| 5 | Failed Time Bomb (Third Stage) | Failed the transition from the first to the second sphere. Failed to hold onto the sphere. 3rd best of the season. |
| 6 | Total Victory (02.99 seconds left) |
Second competitor to achieve Total Victory in a regular season of Ninja Warrior Germany. Completed the Final Stage faster than Moritz Hans, and received the grand cash prize of 300,000 € for winning the entire season. 1. Ninja Warrior Germany. |
| 7 | Failed Crazy Cliffhanger (First Stage) | Failed the transition from the fourth to the fifth ledge. Failed to hold onto the ledge. 11th best of the season. |
| 8 | Failed Cliffhanger 3.0 (Third Stage) | Failed the transition from the fifth to the sixth and final ledge. Slipped shortly before attempting the transition and then failed to hold onto the ledge. 2nd best of the season. |
Team Ninja Warrior Germany[]
| Season | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Team: Magic Monkeys | ||
| 1 | Champion | |
| 2 | Champion | |
Ninja Warrior Germany Allstars[]
| Season | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preliminary Heat, Round 2 | Lost vs. Oliver Edelmann. |
| 2 | Finals, Round 1 | Lost vs. Lukas Kilian. |
SASUKE Results[]
| SASUKE | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 88 | Failed Salmon Ladder Jūgo Dan (Final Stage) |
Made it about 13 meters up the Final Stage (11th rung). Dropped to about 12 meters (9th rung). Derailed the bar. Last Man Standing. |
| 41 | 93 | Failed Cliff Dimension (Third Stage) | Second Transition. Failed to hold onto the third ledge. |
Gallery[]
Ninja Warrior Germnay[]
SASUKE[]
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||