World's best 'Shovel Knight' speedrunners finish race within seconds of each other

At the top level of competitive gaming, the best of the best give it their all to win big. On their way to victory, professional esports players will inevitably make some jaw-dropping plays ... or epic fails. Each week, Mashable rounds up the most mind-blowing highlights in esports for your enjoyment.

Over the past week, Overwatch teams competed for spots in the Winter Premiere playoffs, Dota 2 had its first big tournament of 2017 and the world's fastest gamers showed off their speedrunning skills at Awesome Games Done Quick.

Check out our favorite plays from the past week below.

1. Speedrunning -- Shovel Knight runners go neck-and-neck to the finish

Shovel Knight is not an easy game, but two of its top speedrunners make it look like a breeze. Smaugy and MunchaKoopas -- currently the first and second place world record holders for Shovel Knight respectively -- showcased their mastery of the 2D action platformer in a 1v1 race at Awesome Games Done Quick on Sunday and the final sprint could not have been any closer. The two finished within six seconds of each other, making this quite the exciting race. The race starts at 0:20:57 and the final encounter of the game starts at 1:06:35.

2. Overwatch -- Renegades' Mangachu dominates all of Citizen7

Renegades has been dominating the competition at NGE's Overwatch Winter Premier and Liam "Mangachu" Campbell's performance with Pharah has been unparalleled. In Renegades' match against Citizen7 on Thursday, Renegades had an impenetrable defense in the first round on Hollywood, and then showed everyone they weren't just a one-trick pony in the second round on offense. The team ripped through Citizen7 on its first push, led by the precise rocketeering of Mangachu on Pharah that earned him four player kills and one turret kill to get the payload moving and immediately win the map.

3. Dota 2 -- Digital Chaos crushes Newbee in pursuit of the championship

Digital Chaos finished in first place at the ESL One Genting Dota 2 tournament on Sunday, and it doesn't come as a surprise after seeing Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok put in MVP-level performances game after game. In the best-of-five grand finals against Newbee, DC was down 1-2 in game four but weren't ready to give up. In a fight in the middle of the map late in the game, Newbee moved in for a few kills but were countered, shut down and destroyed by DC, earning Resolut1on a godlike triple kill and giving DC a win on the spot.