Joop Katana (ジュープ・カタナ) is a stuntman and software programmer who qualified for SASUKE 23 as the #9 qualifier through American Ninja Warrior, the United States' qualifying competition. In the qualifiers for the competition, he made quite a splash with his well-dressed attire, but he performed exceptionally, only having a slight hiccup on the Warped Wall, and finishing in 59 sec.
In the semi-finals, he breezed through the first six obstacles, and even took revenge on the Warped Wall. Despite struggling on the Tarzan Rope, he managed to make up time on the Jumping Bars, and clear in 1:49, managing to scrape into the finals in 15th place.
During the finals, he struggled during the first stage of the challenge, struggling to keep a solid momentum going and finished with the 13th fastest time overall. In the second stage, his run was digested, but it was shown that he made up time greatly on the course, and cleared with the fastest time of 24.2 seconds, cementing his spot in Japan.
In the tournament, he performed well, making a miraculous arms-only save on the Jumping Spider. He was shown to have made it to the Slider Jump, managing to hang onto the bottom of the net with a hand and foot after almost missing the netting. But sadly, he timed out as he was climbing underneath the net. It was revealed that the Soritatsu Kabe slowed him down placing 6th overall.
Joop did not return for any future American Ninja Warrior competition since. Though he did try to apply for American Ninja Warrior 7, he was not selected.
Trivia[]
- Coincidentally, his surname, Katana, is actually a Japanese sword.
Results[]
| SASUKE | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Failed Slider Jump (First Stage) | Digest. Time Out. |