Utah teen’s run on ‘American Ninja Warrior’ comes to a surprising end — but he’ll be back
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Kai Beckstrand was one of the ones to fear on “American Ninja Warrior” this season.
Competing against fellow ninjas across the country on challenging obstacle courses that tested everything from balance to upper body strength, the 17-year-old from St. George, Utah, consistently emerged as the fastest competitor. He completed both the qualifier and semifinal obstacle courses in under a minute — a whopping 20 seconds ahead of the second-fastest time.
His reputation for speed was so strong that 10-time “ANW” national finalist Joe Moravsky said during Monday night’s episode that he didn’t want to ever race Beckstrand. And 17-year-old Kaden Lebsack, who has been the “Last Ninja Standing” for the past two seasons and had to race Beckstrand earlier this season, said “anything to not race Kai again.”
“You can ask anyone, I love speed ... and I love to go fast,” Beckstrand shared in a recent email interview with the Deseret News. “My goal is to get off the obstacle as fast as I can so I don’t gas out.”
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And Beckstrand’s remarkable speed continued in the national finals. He breezed through the first three of eight obstacles in 30 seconds — which included running across boards that slide forward and backward, and hanging on to a bar and gliding down multiple sets of rollercoaster tracks.
But the teenager ended up splashing down on the fourth obstacle, the Jumping Spider, which requires competitors to jump up and stick the landing between two walls, and climb up and across the walls before jumping down onto a landing platform.
Beckstrand was visibly shocked and disappointed by his elimination.
“We’ve had surprises all night, but this has gotta be the biggest!” one of the announcers exclaimed. “Kai Beckstrand, a favorite to win it all, is out.”
But the teenager didn’t waste too much time feeling down.
He’ll be back for Season 16.
“Not the way I was hoping the season would end, but that’s Ninja,” Beckstrand shared in a recent Instagram post. “I’m still so grateful for the opportunity to compete. I promise I will come back stronger next season. And hey, at least now, no one has to race me..... good luck to everyone moving on to Stage 2.”
“American Ninja Warrior” filmed Seasons 15 and 16 back-to-back, so viewers will see Beckstrand back in action next year. The “ANW” competitor told Deseret News that his brother Luke, 15, and his mom, Holly, will also be competing in Season 16 (Holly previously competed on seasons 10 and 11, while Luke has competed on “American Ninja Warrior Jr.,” per Deseret News).
“You won’t want to miss that!” he said.
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Kai Beckstrand’s history with ‘American Ninja Warrior’
Beckstrand started training for “American Ninja Warrior” roughly 10 years ago, when his dad and fellow “ANW” competitor Brian Beckstrand began building obstacles after another son requested an “American Ninja Warrior” themed birthday party, the Deseret News reported.
At its peak, the Beckstrands’ backyard had anywhere between 40 and 50 obstacles, but that’s now given way to two gyms the family co-operates in the St. George area dedicated to training for the show.
This season marked Kai Beckstrand’s second time competing on the show — he made his “ANW” debut in Season 13, where he also landed in the national finals. In 2019, Beckstrand won the inaugural season of “American Ninja Warrior Jr.” in the 11-12 age division.
The teenager told the Deseret News he trains about three times a week on “American Ninja Warrior” obstacles. He’s also working on getting into a firefighting training program, following in the footsteps of his father, who is a firefighter for the St. George Fire Department.
“I do work on being stronger everyday at the gym, which I think can help when I do finally get the chance to get those turnouts on for real and start serving my community,” said Beckstrand, who is a high school senior but is in an accelerated EMT program at Dixie Technical College.
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To achieve total victory and claim the $1 million prize, one must successfully navigate the entire four-stage obstacle course of the National Finals — a course that ends with a 75-foot rope climb that has to be completed in 30 seconds.
Only two people in 14 seasons have been declared an “American Ninja Warrior” champion, but in a dramatic promo, NBC has spilled the beans that for the first time in four years, someone has completed that rope climb within 30 seconds.
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With Beckstrand out of the running, Lebsack — the teen who has timed out on the rope climb for the past two seasons — is one of the likeliest contenders to be the champion.
But Beckstrand didn’t end his run this season completely empty-handed — earlier in the season, he was one of just a few competitors to earn $10,000 by climbing up the 18.5-foot Mega Wall, the Deseret News previously reported.
But if he were to win the $1 million in the future, Beckstrand already has a good idea as to how he’d spend it.
“I would save and invest as much as possible ... AFTER I bought a few more cars,” he said.
Stage 1 of the “American Ninja Warrior” Season 15 finals continues next Monday on NBC, and viewers will see another Utah ninja compete for the $1 million prize: former Southern Utah University gymnast Mady Howard.
So far, eight ninjas have completed Stage 1 to advance on to the next stage. In total, the top 24 competitors on Stage 1 will move forward in the next round of the competition.
The “American Ninja Warrior” season finale airs Sept. 11.
