Moorestown Ninja Josiah Pippel made his run on stage-three finals of NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” season 16 on Sept. 9.
The national finals continued in Las Vegas beginning Sept. 2, as the remaining Ninjas moved on to stages 2 and 3 for their chance to win the $1-million prize. Pippel competed against Cam Baumgartner in stage 2, with a winning time of 1:24.93. Obstacles included Jawbreakers, Falling Shelves and the Double Salmon Ladder.
“I’ve just been mostly focusing on prepping for these stages; semifinals and qualifying are much shorter courses but now we’re getting into the longer courses,” Pippel said ahead of his stage 3 run. “Stage 2, you’ve got racing, and then stage 3, we’ve got a grueling upper- body six or seven obstacles, so it’s different training.”
Obstacles for that stage included the Slam Dunk, the Pressure Cooker and Pizza Party. That obstacle was first introduced as the 5th obstacle in stage 3 of season 16, replacing the Pipe Dream obstacle of the last four recent appearances.
“Stage 3 is just you on the course, but it’s more slow paced and much harder, taxing obstacles,” Pippel explained. “The racing obstacles are more meant to be obstacles that you can do fast, but could be a little bit technical. Stage 3 is all about making you burn out and just … make you fall, because you can’t do the obstacles because you’re too tired.”
“It’s a grueling upper-body course,” Pippel added of stage 3. “The last time I did it in season 14, I took almost five minutes.”
Pippel returned in the 5th qualifying episode in the last season of “American Ninja Warrior.” His semifinal race against Jamie Rahn was fast-forwarded, but Pippel seemed to be slightly behind at first, while Rahn rushed and failed on the Beehive obstacle. That gave Pippel the win; he then sped through the rest of the course to finish with the fastest time, according to Ninja Warrior Wiki.
On stage 2 as the number-9 seed, Pippel raced the number 16 seed, Austin Gray. Pippel had an unexpected fall on the Epic Air Surfer obstacle, despite clearing it two years ago. He was able to complete in the runoff race for the top four non-winners, racing against Kyle Soderman, but failed again on Epic Air Surfer, ending his season for good.
“There have been quite a few highs,” Pippel remarked of the show’s 16th season. “Just getting to do another season, hanging out with friends and being on set and enjoying the moment with the people that I’ve grown up in this sport with, and just being able to push myself and inspire people with how I’ve pushed myself to get to the level that I’m at.
“If you want to achieve something at a high level, just dedicate yourself to it and push yourself as hard as you can.”
In stage 3 of season 16, Pippel cleared Stalactites, – an obstacle featuring seven, small free-hanging panels with holes on one side and a pair of handles similarly used to the Circuit Board and Keylock Hang – but failed on Pizza Party, ending his season.
“You never know what they’re going to throw at you,” he acknowledged. “Coming back every season and training in between … I’ve put in all this time and effort and it’s a great way to really see all of that training and all those late nights pay off.”
He had advice for others who aspire to Ninja.
“Always compare yourself against who you were yesterday,” he noted. “You don’t ever have to be the best in the world. Just try and always be better than you were before and know that you’re going to try and be better tomorrow than you are now.
“If you ever fail or fall or come up short, just get back up and say, ‘I’ve learned from this and I’m going to push myself and make myself better because of it.’”
Vance Walker was crowned as the season 16 winner of “American Ninja Warrior.”
