[Upthorn]

I'm working on an all emeralds TAS of S3K as Knuckles.
Currently, Marble Garden 2 is the one level where I make no detours for giant rings and don't beat the TSC time.

The runner's comment for his time (or rather, a prior time which presumably uses the same route) is

Same glitch as Sonic, yes it can be done on S3&K but ended up at Knuckles real boss at 38 seconds...

Presumably this refers to the glitch where sonic can get above the level and run across the ceiling to save massive amounts of time.
As Knuckles I can get above the ceiling, but whereever I do so, there are mysterious objects that keep knuckles from moving forward, are taller than his jump height, and can't be climbed. (When I try to climb them, the moment I press up, I'm pushed back down onto the level, and the ceiling ejects me to the left). So currently, I'm using Mike89's strategy, which allows me to end the level by beating Sonic's boss at 1:18

The video for Sonic shows him using a top to get above the level, but this seems to take 30-45 seconds, which seems like it would end up giving me a time even slower than I currently have.

So what's the trick, is it just using a top to get above the level? Or is there some way for knuckles to get around those mysterious obstacles?
It's really bothering me that my TAS time for this level is 19 seconds slower than than the real-time play record.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Edit:
For the curious, my current level times are
Angel Island 1: 0:55 (2 giant rings)
Angel Island 2: 0:35 (0 giant rings)
Hydrocity 1: 0:54 (2 giant rings)
Hydrocity 2: 1:18 (0 giant rings)
Marble Garden 1: 0:46 (3 giant rings, Super @ 0:31)
Marble Garden 2: 0:44 (0 giant rings)
Carnival Night 1: 0:48 (0 giant rings, Super @ 0:10)
Carnival Night 2: 0:34 (0 giant rings, Super @ 0:10)
Ice Cap 1: 0:57 (1 giant ring, Super @ 0:09)
Ice Cap 2: 0:50 (1 giant ring, Super @ 0:10)
Launch Base 1: 1:25 (0 giant rings, Super @ 0:51)
Launch Base 2: 1:34 (1 giant rings, Super @ 0:15) (No timer stop glitch)
Mushroom Hill 1: 1:00 (4 giant rings)
Mushroom Hill 2: 0:59 (3 giant rings, Hyper @ 0:42)

[Groudon]

I don't play the game much, but I assume that, since you press up and get pushed down, you can try pressing down.

[Upthorn]

Ah. I forgot to mention. Pressing down causes Knuckles to climb down normally.

[yse]

I made a video which demonstrates this glitch, I'm going to quickly see if I can find it.

Aha, here it is. It uses Tails but the exact same thing can be done with Knuckles using the first 12 seconds of your current route.

Speaking of which, I've been following the progress of the run, even if I'm not commenting much on TASvideos. It looks great so far!

[Upthorn]

Thanks. That's exactly what I needed to know.