After speedrunning this game for some time, I have come to realize that there is no way to get a time lower than a 17:17 within Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup and Star Cup, whether the difficulty is Normal or Hard. As close as 17:16 appears to be, it is physically impossible to achieve such a time because there is no other possible way to save time. This category is officially dead.

RTA Splits: Round 1 - 5:38.684 Round 2 - 11:28.406 Round 3 - 17.17.669

Contact Information: https://www.speedrun.com/user/HooplaFish