When Luke Beckstrand was racing Joe Moravsky during the round of 16 on “American Ninja Warrior,” there was a moment when the camera zoomed in on the sidelines to show Beckstrand’s older brother, Kai, emphatically shouting “Go!” over and over.
Seventeen-year-old Luke Beckstrand had taken a moment to catch his breath before navigating the next obstacle of the course — which had allowed Moravsky, an “ANW” legend who has competed on every season of the show since 2013, to catch up.
Kai Beckstrand couldn’t hold back his reactions as he watched the race unfold. In that moment, he was a proud older brother wanting his little brother to do the best he could — to move forward in the competition.
But he also knew that his brother advancing to the next round would lead to an unprecedented, bittersweet situation on “American Ninja Warrior”: Thanks to the show’s new bracket-style format, he would have to go head-to-head with his little brother in the round of eight to advance to the final four — meaning only one Beckstrand could move forward.
Luke Beckstrand won his race against Moravsky, making a thrilling one-handed save to land on the platform and hit the buzzer.
But when the showdown between the Beckstrand brothers arrived, it was 19-year-old Kai who pulled through.
Kai Beckstrand also came out on top in the next race.
And in the final race of the season, where he went up against three-time competitor Noah Meunier in a neck-and-neck race that culminated with him diving to hit the buzzer to claim the $250,000 prize.
As Beckstrand fell to the stage, the first one to reach him, to hug him and cheer him on in his victory was his toughest competitor and biggest supporter: his little brother.
“He was on the stage before I had even comprehended that I just finished the race,” Beckstrand told the Deseret News Monday morning, ahead of the Season 17 finale. “I hit the buzzer, I was diving for it. So I fell down to that stage, and before I even knew it, I was already getting picked up by Luke.”
Beckstrand’s victory makes him the first Utahn to win “American Ninja Warrior” in a decade — during the show’s seventh season in 2015, Salt Lake City’s Isaac Caldiero made history as the first competitor to ever achieve total victory on the show.
Ahead of the season finale, the 19-year-old firefighter from St. George briefly spoke to the Deseret News about competing against his younger brother and being declared the Season 17 champion.
‘Definitely not ideal circumstances’
As two of the speediest ninjas this season, Kai and Luke Beckstrand have been some of 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 only slightly behind with a time of 54.92 seconds.
In the semifinals, Luke beat Kai’s time on the course by more than 30 seconds, and for the second time in a row, the brothers secured the two fastest times of their episode.
That back-and-forth dynamic plays out regularly behind the scenes at their family’s gym, The Grip, in St. George.
“In training, we’re always pushing each other,” Kai Beckstrand previously told the Deseret News. “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.”
But until the round of eight on “American Ninja Warrior,” the brothers never had to race each other head-on.
“Definitely not ideal circumstances to have to race him, because I obviously want him to keep progressing in the competition,” Kai Beckstrand told the Deseret News Monday morning.
“Having to race directly against him was kind of nerve-wracking,” he continued. “He’s my training partner. ... I knew exactly what Luke was capable of, and that happened to be the fact that it could go either way for either one of us.”
Going up against his younger brother was one of his toughest races. Typically, Kai said, he doesn’t know where his opponent is on the course because he’s so focused on trying to secure the fastest time. He doesn’t even have a second to divert his attention.
But Luke was actually in the lead for most of the race, meaning Kai could clearly see him as he tried to catch up.
When his younger brother stalled a little on the second to last obstacle, Kai was able to pull ahead and hit the buzzer first, earning his spot in the next round.
A victory years in the making
By the time Kai Beckstrand got to his final race of the season, it was around 5:45 in the morning.
He had been on set for about 12 hours, and his first race of the night had kicked off at 10:30 p.m.
None of that seemed to really affect the Utah teen, though, as he cruised through the obstacle course for the final time and hit one of his most meaningful buzzers in “American Ninja Warrior” history.
It was a victory years in the making — he was 7 when his dad, Brian Beckstrand, began building “American Ninja Warrior”-esque obstacles in their backyard (at its peak, there were around 40 or 50 obstacles).
He also vividly remembers being inspired watching his dad compete back in Seasons 7 and 8, and making history alongside his dad as the first father-son duo to advance to the semifinals in Season 13.
“Winning any TV show’s got to feel surreal, but especially this, where I put in so much time and effort into training for it, and putting in the work multiple seasons of competition,” Beckstrand said. “So it’s super rewarding to kind of see it all pay off in the end.”
After Kai hit the buzzer, when filming concluded and the crew started taking apart the “American Ninja Warrior” set, the sun was starting to come up.
Kai Beckstrand had been up for a long time, but he wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon as he started to process his win.
And even though he’s now claimed a victory, he’s not ready to close the door on the show just yet.
“As long as ‘Ninja Warrior’ keeps calling me back, I’ll keep being on the show,” he said.