2023 National YoYo Contest Freestyle Qualification

1A Division Qualification:

The 2023 National Yo-Yo Contest is open to all competitors.  There is a three round qualifying structure to make it to finals. The top eligible competitor from 2023 National Yo-Yo League Contests (PNWR, MWR, GCR, NER) and the 2022 National Champions earn a seed directly into the finals.

All other players interested in competing for the title of National Champion must be US Citizens, or full-time residents of the United States. Depending on their placement at the 2023 National Yo-Yo League Contests, they will start in either the preliminary or semi-final round, and work their way through the rounds below.

Non-US citizens are welcome to compete but will be scored separately in an International Open division.

Below is a quick summary of how to advance to the finals, for greater details, please see the Round Structure page.

Round 1 – Preliminaries: 60 seconds

  • Open to all competitors. 

Round 2 – Semi-finals: 90 seconds

  • Anyone who has placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th at a major qualifying event (PNWR, MWR, GCR, and NER) is automatically entered into this division. In the case of an international player taking a top 5 placement the next eligible placement will be taken.
  • Top 20 players from preliminaries advance to the semi-finals.

Round 3 – Finals: 3 minutes

  • Finals will consist of 15 players in total.
  • The following players below will be seeded into the finals. The remaining finalists will be determined by the semi-finals until there are 15 players in total competing.

2023 1A seeds by event:

  • 2022 National YoYo Champion – Evan Nagao
  • Pacific Northwest Regional Contest Champion – Hunter Feuerstein
  • Midwest Regional Contest Champion – Hunter Feuerstein
  • Gulf Coast Regional Contest Champion –Hunter Feuerstein
  • Northeast Regional Contest Champion – Kris Toledo
    *Champions of the events are determined by placement of all residents in the USA. The highest placing USA resident in each major qualifier (regional) event receives the seed. Multiple seeds can be won by the same player. 

X Divisions Qualification (2A, 3A, 4A, 5A):

The 2023 National Yo-Yo Contest is open to all competitors.  There is a two round qualifying structure to make it to finals. The top eligible X-Division competitor from 2023 National Yo-Yo League Contests (PNWR, MWR, GCR, NER) and the 2022 National Champions earn a seed directly into the finals.

Everyone else – 1 minute prelim

Round 1 – Preliminaries: 60 seconds

  • Open to all competitors. 

Round 2 – Finals: 3 minutes

  • Finals will consist of 6 players in total per division.
  • Players must have a minimum of 40 points in the prelim round in 2A, 3A, 4A, or 5A to qualify to the finals. 
2023 X Division Seeds by event:
  • 2022 National YoYo Champions
    • 2A – John Ando
    • 3A – Alex Hattori
    • 4A – Ryan Connolly
    • 5A – Jared Marcus
  • Pacific Northwest Regional Contest Champion – Evan Nagao (2A)
  • Midwest Regional Contest Champion – Josiah Pulsifier (4A)
  • Gulf Coast Regional Contest Champion – Jared Marcus (5A)
  • Northeast Regional Contest Champion – Sean de los Santos (4A)
    *Champions of the events are determined by placement of all residents in the USA. The highest placing USA resident in each major qualifier (regional) event receives the seed. Multiple seeds can be won by the same player.