I like Gentry well enough, but when I watch his performance I don’t really see best in the world. I think I just really enjoy slacks and originality like Janos and Takeshi have been bringing in the last couple of years. Speaking of Janos, poor guy, must have been tough, looked like he had a few new bangers that had great potential though, wonder what a perfect routine would have gotten him.
I thought Paul Kerbal was the most entertaining to watch and he’s a huge inspiration for people who don’t even ttoo to start because of the things he does with the hat and the handstand stuff
Rei Iwakura did a lot for 4a. He showed it wasn’t so dead and has a lot of potential what with the soloham inventions.
Hajime Muira with a near flawless freestyle, brought to the stage new slack tricks, I have never seen done so effortlessly, and behind the back and above the head eli hops.
Jake Elliott, in one year, rose from 11th to second in the world, while Takeshi Matsuura continued to stun the world with his visually appealing style in both 1a and 5a.
Takuma Yamamato defends his position as 2a leader as Japan wins 2a, 3a, 4a, and 5a. But the coveted 1a title belongs the United States of America.
And all (or most of it at least) was experienced through live stream thanks to the fantastic coverage by Yoyonews.
Gentry deserved to win because: 2nd in tech (definitely yes, he was clean, and had great tech combos), tied for second in cleanliness (you gotta admit he was clean), tied for 1st in variation (horizontal, technical, and all sorts of combos), he was in the upper percentage of rareness (about the only section he did "poorly" in), etc. If you think it out it makes sense: https://www.facebook.com/duncantoys/photos/a.10150111653600014.401178.494312145013/10154505476070014/?type=1&theater
While I appreciate Gentry’s style and the cleanliness of his freestyle, only a few of his tricks really blew me away. On the other hand, Zach had way more tricks that were a lot more technical and impressive. I respect the judge’s decisions, but if it was me, Zach would’ve been top 3 for sure.
I counted 15 mess-ups for Zach and 9 for Gentry. Gentry’s was more coordinated with the music, and Zach didn’t have very much variation. And I don’t think Zach’s horizontal combo was very good.
Don’t be too sure of that. The judges are following a scoring system and may have been just as surprised as you are. The judges click freestyles and whoever has the most wins(basically). They don’t choose their favorites, although their favorite might happen to be the one they choose.
If you were a judge, you would have to follow the scoring system.
Also, Gentry was only 3 points ahead of Zach in the Technical Execution category, the biggest reason why gentry won was because of his performance points.