Here’s what happened when a Utah teen raced for $1 million on the ‘American Ninja Warrior’ finale

After three seasons of competing on “American Ninja Warrior,” where he consistently proved to be one of the fastest competitors in the show’s history, Kai Beckstrand finally made it all the way to Stage 4 — the final obstacle.
The only thing standing in the way of the Utah teen claiming the $1 million prize was a 75-foot rope. But to get the money, he’d have to do the climb in 30 seconds or less.
The 18-year-old from St. George — who previously told the Deseret News he is “not the best at rope climbing” — had his work cut out for him Monday night.
To get the money and become only the show’s fourth official winner in 16 seasons, Beckstrand would have to beat out four fellow competitors who also made it to the rope climb — including defending champion Vance Walker.
When Beckstrand had a surprising fall last season and got eliminated earlier than expected, he didn’t have much time to stay down about it.
In a departure from its typical schedule, “ANW” filmed Seasons 15 and 16 back to back. So just a couple of days after his Season 15 run, Beckstrand was back at it.
For the most part, he said, this was the best case scenario: He was already focused and knew he had the skill to make it far.
Except for when it came to the rope climb. Having an extra year to prepare for that would’ve come in handy — especially since he was up against 19-year-old Walker, who just a few days before had become the show’s third winner by completing the climb in 26.75 seconds.
Beckstrand said he was “intimidated” as he stood at the base of the rope and looked up at the opening of the tower, where he would need to climb through and hit the buzzer. But when the countdown began, he shook off his nerves and quickly got to work.
As Beckstrand began his ascent, the announcers noted that the teen — who at 180 pounds is one of the heavier competitors — was primarily using his upper body to climb up the rope and wasn’t getting much momentum with his legs. The 18-year-old slowed down halfway up the rope and ended up timing out.
But as his family cheered him on from the sidelines, he still made it to the top, with a time of 49.75 seconds.
In the end, the victory again went to Walker, who has been one of Beckstrand’s toughest competitors since they both made their “ANW” debut in Season 13. This time around, Walker completed the climb in 27.6 seconds.
The 19-year-old, who is from Texas and was born with cerebral palsy, made “ANW” history as the first competitor to win the show twice. It’s also the first time the show has ever had two winners in a row.
“It was an extension of the greatest moment of my life,” Walker told USA Today. “Winning Season 15 was everything that I had ever worked for. It was eight years coming together. … (Season 16) was just an extension. Every single moment was like ‘OK, well, I’m just enjoying it now, but I can keep doing it. I’ve already done what I needed to do.’ So I was just going out and enjoying the courses with no real stress. Every single course run, just hitting the buzzer was an extension of the moment that was already great. And being able to do it for a second time just made it that much cooler.”
“ANW” fans haven’t seen the last of Beckstrand.
Although he’s in the process of pursuing a career as a firefighter, Beckstrand told the Deseret News he’ll be returning for Season 17 — this time competing alongside his brother, Luke; his sister, Baylee; and his mother, Holly.
Filming for Season 17 begins in late September.