The “American Ninja Warrior” announcers never tire of saying it: Kai Beckstrand, a teenager from St. George, Utah, is one of the most formidable competitors on the show.
So far, throughout his Season 17 runs, the 19-year-old has been called “the ninja to beat” and “the fastest ninja on the planet.”
He’s a favorite to win it all, and Monday night continued to make a strong case for that outcome.
Kai Beckstrand dominates in first round of ‘ANW’ finals
Sixty ninjas — including Kai and his younger brother, Luke — are competing in the Season 17 finals, which started Aug. 4 and continued Monday night.
In a new format, the show divided the 60 competitors into groups of four based on their runtimes. Ninjas in each group have to face off against each other in a series of one-on-one races. After everyone in a group has run against each other, the two competitors with the most wins advance to the next round.
The new format plays to Kai Beckstrand’s advantage.
“Speed’s always been my favorite thing,” he previously told the Deseret News.
Beckstrand’s group Monday night included “ANW” veterans like 40-year-old Jessie Graff, a stuntwoman who has been on the show for 11 seasons; and Donovan Metoyer, the “Classy Ninja” who typically runs in formalwear.
The teenager won every race in his bracket — and completed each of his three runs in under a minute.
He finished his last race, against five-time competitor Isabella Folsom, in a staggering 44:09 — marking, by a tenth of a second, the new fastest time of all the competitors on that specific course (so far).
With his dominant performance, Beckstrand is guaranteed a top seed in the next round of the finals. Moving forward, he joins his brother Luke — who last week had a come-from-behind win to keep his season alive.
The brothers recently spoke with the Deseret News about their dominating runs this season — and how being some of the fastest ninjas on the show affects their rivalry.
‘We’re always pushing each other’
As two of the speediest ninjas this season, Kai and Luke Beckstrand have been each other’s toughest competitors.
They delivered the two fastest times of their episode during the show’s first round: Kai completed the course in 52.90 seconds, and Luke came in just slightly behind with a time of 54.92 seconds.
During the semifinals, it looked like Kai would again secure the fastest time of the night.
But when the 19-year-old reached the Invisible Ladder — an obstacle that requires hanging onto two rings and hoisting yourself up 30 feet to the buzzer — it proved to be a big demand for his 180-pound body.
He still managed to hit the buzzer in roughly 3 minutes and 45 seconds — an impressive feat, but not the fastest time of the night.
Instead, that distinction went to Luke, who, with a little more gas in his tank, navigated all 10 obstacles in 3 minutes and 12 seconds — more than 30 seconds ahead of his older brother.
“I knew I could beat it, but I didn’t know that I would beat it by 30 seconds,” Luke Beckstrand previously said. “That was a big amount of time, but I just stayed smooth through all the obstacles, didn’t take as much of a break, and I was just chasing down that time.”
For the second time in a row, the brothers secured the two fastest times of their episode — this time, though, the top spot went to Luke.
That back and forth dynamic plays out regularly behind the scenes at their family’s gym, The Grip, in St. George.
At the gym — where they coach and inspire kids who hope to someday compete on their level — the brothers regularly work on their strength and speed as they build familiarity and comfort with obstacles they could potentially come across on the show.
They frequently try to outdo their own times — and each other.
“In training, we’re always pushing each other,” Kai Beckstrand said. “If he gets a faster time than me, I’ll run that course again, beat his time. He’ll go back, beat my time again. So it just goes back and forth.”
The brothers are constantly motivating each other at home, and that intensifies when they’re in the spotlight on a competitive show like “American Ninja Warrior.”
“Watching him get the fastest time, it’s a little bittersweet,” Kai Beckstrand previously said of his younger brother beating his time in the semifinals by more than 30 seconds. “I want him to do as good as possible, and if that is going faster than me, then that’s the case. So it definitely pushed me in training to kind of get more efficient with my obstacles.
“But I mean, overall, just looking up at him on top, I couldn’t be more proud of him,” he continued. “He’s my training partner, and we go back and forth all the time. So can’t really be too mad about it.
“It’s just a testament to how hard we’re putting in the work.”