My Hero Academia is broken down into a number of exciting and unique story arcs, each one boasting brisk pacing, powerhouse characters, and some serious stakes. Partway through the series, the hero Izuku Midoriya faced a new challenge: the U.A. Sports Festival, where Quirks would dominate the scene. This wouldn't be an ordinary high school sports festival.
Hundreds of U.A. students took part, but after the cavalry race was done, only sixteen students remained, and they moved on to the single-elimination tournament. As of this story arc, which ten U.A. students were the most powerful? Nearly all of them made the top sixteen, and for good reason, after all.
10 Ochaco Uraraka Surprised Everyone In Her Fight Against Bakugo
Ochaco Uraraka was something of a dark horse in the U.A. sports festival. She had already demonstrated how her Quirk worked, but she had trouble fighting alone. During the sports festival, though, Ochaco's zero-gravity Quirk was vital for Izuku's team's mobility. Without her, Izuku's cavalry team would have been doomed.
Ochaco made it into the top 16, and she shocked everyone with her sly use of rubble to create a meteor shower right on Katsuki Bakugo's head. That devastating technique almost worked, and it showed how far Ochaco has come. She is also rather agile and quick, too.
9 Neito Monoma Used Bakugo's & Kirishima's Quirks To His Advantage
Ultimately, Neito Monoma didn't make it into the top 16, but he did show off what he can do in the stages leading up to the final tournament. He can touch someone to borrow their Quirk, and Neito is crafty and opportunistic about this. He's very comfortable with this fighting style.
Neuto borrowed Bakugo's Explosion Quirk and took him by total surprise, and he also mimicked Eijiro Kirishima's Hardening Quirk for defense. Such a flexible set of moves, paired with Neito's sharp mind, makes quite the combination.
8 Denki Kaminari Demonstrated Long Range & Power With His Electricity
Denki Kaminari is the wielder of electricity, and he's one of those heroes who relies almost entirely on their Quirk to fight (his melee skills are negligible). Denki may get terrible grades, but he has adequate courage and resolve in battle, and he is comfortable with his Quirk.
Denki can emit powerful blasts of lightning in all directions, which can quickly take out a whole crowd of lesser villains. He tried to wield this power against Ibara Shiozaki of class 1-B, but her defenses were too tough, and he was overwhelmed soon after that.
7 Mina Ashido Showed Off Crafty Ways To Use Her Acid
One of the most agile students in class 1-A is Mina Ashido, who has found all kinds of creative ways to use her Acid Quirk. Mina can throw handfuls of her acid at her foes to dissolve their clothes or equipment, and she used that power against Yuga Aoyama to great effect.
For mobility, Mina can skate around the battlefield on streaks of her acid, allowing her to move quickly and make sharp turns to evade enemy fire. It helps that Mina has a dancer's grace, adding to her agility. She's a tough target to hit, though Fumikage Tokoyami was able to take her down in their match.
6 Ibara Shiozaki Used Her Vine-Like Hair To Block Attacks & Immobilize Her Foes
Overall, the girl known as Ibara Shiozaki doesn't like to shed blood, and if she can help it, no one will cause anyone else any harm ever again. She is a gentle and humble person, but she is far from defenseless.
Ibara's vine-like hair can rapidly extend and move all over the place, including underground. These vines can easily block enemy attacks (such as Denki's lightning), and the vines can quickly seize Ibara's foes and immobilize them. That's an effective and bloodless technique.
5 Tenya Iida's Speed Was Unmatched & Allowed Him To Outmaneuver His Foes
Tenya Iida is the class rep of class 1-A, and he is a smart, disciplined, and hard-working boy who will never stop pushing himself (and his classmates) to be better. This attitude has paid off, and Tenya proved it during the U.A. sports festival.
During the festival, Tenya Iida easily outmaneuvered his foes, and at leisure, he could either shove them out of the arena to disqualify them or deliver the Recipro Burst technique. Some students hit harder than Tenya, but none move faster.
4 Fumikage Tokoyami Took Down Both Momo & Mina With His Dark Shadow Quirk
Another class 1-A powerhouse is the raven-headed Fumikage Tokoyami, who relies entirely on his Quirk to fight. As of the sports festival, he hadn't yet gained total control of Dark Shadow, but during the day, Dark Shadow's power is limited, so it's easier to control.
Despite the sunlight, Dark Shadow was fast and tough enough to knock most of Fumikage's opponents right out of the arena, first Momo Yaoyorozu, then Mina Ashido. He finally met his match against Katsuki Bakugo, and was knocked out.
3 Izuku Midoriya Defeated Hitoshi Shinso & Pushed Shoto Todoroki To The Limit
Most likely, Izuku will end up at the top of his class one day, if not his entire generation. He's the protagonist, after all. But as of this point in the story, Izuku cannot fully control One For All, and that mighty Quirk functioned as a double-edged sword during the tournament.
Izuku can put out a lot of power at the expense of breaking his bones, meaning he has limited battlefield endurance. He defeated Hitoshi Shinso and pushed Shoto to the limit, but ultimately, he was knocked out. He sure impressed everyone until then, though.
2 Katsuki Bakugo Won The Entire Tournament
Explosive firepower is always priority #1 where Katsuki Bakugo is concerned, and he has a fierce temper and a surprisingly sharp mind to match, meaning he is more than just a brute-force character. He has some finesse, too.
That, combined with his Quirk's ability to get even stronger as a battle progresses, makes Bakugo a true powerhouse. In fact, he won the entire tournament, but it should be noted that his final opponent, Shoto, was holding back. Thus, Bakugo was enraged at his "unearned" victory.
1 Shoto Todoroki Made It To The Finals But Held Back Against Bakugo
Shoto is yet another character who relies almost entirely on his Quirk to fight; at melee range, he has few options. Fortunately, it rarely comes to that, since Shoto's ice powers can rapidly fill the entire battlefield with frosty formations that trap and block off his enemies. He can also make defensive barriers and slide around on ice for added mobility.
With his ice alone, Shoto is at the top of his class, but by this point in the story, he was beginning to use his fire powers too, and that made him stronger still. He can stand up to One For All and keep fighting, which says a lot.