Hourglass Drop

Hourglass Drop is an obstacle first introduced on American Ninja Warrior 7 as the fifth obstacle in Venice Beach.

The obstacle was essentially a redesign of the Unstable Bridge, with a mini trampoline in the middle of the boards. It is arguably one of the hardest obstacles in American Ninja Warrior history.

Competitors must traverse across an hourglass-shaped board. Then, they must drop onto a mini trampoline, and grab the second board, which was a wavy S-shaped board. Both boards were supported by a metal structure at each end, which would force the board to lop-side to either left or right, similar to the Unstable Bridge's second board.

In its debut during Venice Beach qualifiers, competitors not only found it hard to get a good bounce from the mini trampoline, but were even disqualified for not grabbing the second board or grabbing the support structure. It eliminated 29 out of 36 competitors who attempted it, including David Campbell, Brian Kretsch, Dustin Rocho, Jessie Graff, Ben Melick, Sam Goldstein, Nick Hanson, Jackson Meyer, Theo Agu, Ryan Robinson, Arnold Hernandez, Michael Burkett-Crist, and Travis Weinand. The seven competitors who completed the obstacle later became the only finishers, setting a record for the lowest amount of finishers during city qualifiers in American Ninja Warrior history.

Hourglass Drop was just as hard during Venice Beach finals, as among the 23 competitors who attempted the obstacle, only ten of them could complete it. Because of this, the five fastest competitors who failed on this obstacle were able to earn the spots in Las Vegas national finals. As such, this became only the second time where competitors who didn't reach the back half of the city finals course after Warped Wall still advanced to Las Vegas national finals, after Northeast region finals in American Ninja Warrior 4. Several top competitors who failed on this obstacle during Venice Beach qualifiers, like David Campbell, Dustin Rocho, Ben Melick, and Jessie Graff, did complete the obstacle during the Venice Beach finals. In a twist however, Alan Connealy, who completed this obstacle during Venice Beach qualifiers, failed on this obstacle during Venice Beach finals, and his failure eventually made him finish in 16th place, one spot short from Las Vegas national finals.

American Ninja Warrior 8
Hourglass Drop made its second appearance in American Ninja Warrior 8, as the eighth obstacle during Indianapolis finals. However, the trampoline was placed before both boards. Therefore, competitors had to drop from a waiting bar after Salmon Ladder, and landed on the mini trampoline, attempted to grab the first board, and then transferred to the second board, in a similar fashion to Unstable Bridge, and then make a dismount to the landing platform to advance.

Naturally, the difficulty in this version of the Hourglass Drop came from the drop to the trampoline and the transition from the first board to the second board. The drop was higher than the Hourglass Drop in Venice Beach at eleven feet, which could create higher force for competitors to bounce.

Hourglass Drop was still the toughest obstacle during Indianapolis finals, taking out several competitors like Matt Wilder, Andrew Yori, Tyler Yamauchi, Eric Middleton, Tyler Smith, Ben Jackson, Andrew Rowland and Dan Banura, but a total of eight competitors could get past it. With 8 out of 16 competitors being able to complete it, Hourglass Drop during American Ninja Warrior 8's Indianapolis finals had a decent 50% knockout rate.

Later the same season, a modified version of this obstacle called Wave Runner appeared as the third obstacle in Stage Two, immediately after Down Up Salmon Ladder and replacing Unstable Bridge from the past four American Ninja Warrior seasons, except there was no trampoline and the second board was replaced with a pyramid-shaped one.

American Ninja Warrior 9
Hourglass Drop returned in American Ninja Warrior 9 during San Antonio finals, once again as the eighth obstacle, with the similar specification from Indianapolis finals in the previous season, except with the addition of one waiting bar after Salmon Ladder for a total of two waiting bars, and the boards were shorter.

During San Antonio finals, the obstacle was just as deadly as ever, taking out 18 out of 24 competitors who attempted it, including Abel Gonzalez, Barclay Stockett, Cass Clawson, Grant Clinton, Kevin Klein, Kenny Niemitalo, Tremayne Dortch, David Yarter, Nate Burkhalter, Brandon Pannell, Jody Avila, Josh Salinas, Damir Okanovic, Matt Holt, Jonathan Parr, Jared Bandy, Kye Ackel, and Jonathan Horton. Only six competitors could complete the obstacle, one of which was Nicholas Coolridge, who also completed the original version of the Hourglass Drop during American Ninja Warrior 7's Venice Beach qualifiers and finals.

A unique and risky completion of this obstacle occurred during San Antonio finals, when Thomas Stillings made an early dismount by skipping the second board entirely, and was allowed to continue his run, unlike on Wave Runner, where competitors would be disqualified if they skipped the second board entirely, as was shown during Flip Rodriguez's run on American Ninja Warrior 8. Although Stillings almost lost his balance at the dismount, he was able to hang on and save himself from disqualification.

Australian Ninja Warrior
In Australian Ninja Warrior 2, Hourglass Drop appeared as the eighth obstacle during the semifinals, which was similar to the one used in American Ninja Warrior 7.

However, unlike in American Ninja Warrior 7, instead of grabbing the second board after bouncing from the trampoline, competitors must grab several objects, which were different between each semifinal:


 * In Semifinal 1, the second board was replaced with a laché bar and 4 ropes, with the fourth rope being placed at the landing platform. Therefore, after bouncing from the trampoline, competitors must grab a laché bar, then traverse the ropes to reach the landing platform. Because of those modifications, the obstacle was called Hourglass to Tramp to Rope.


 * In Semifinal 2, the second board was replaced with a rope and a long pipe placed in a downward-angle. Therefore, after bouncing from the trampoline, competitors must grab a rope, then traverse the pipe to reach the landing platform. Because of those modifications, the obstacle was called Hourglass to Tramp to Pole Clinger.


 * In Semifinal 3, the second board was replaced with a laché bar and 3 bungee cords. Therefore, after bouncing from the trampoline, competitors must grab a laché bar, then traverse the bungee cords to reach the landing platform. Because of those modifications, the obstacle was called Hourglass to Tramp to Bungee.


 * In Semifinal 4, the second board was replaced with a cargo net and a rope at the landing platform. Therefore, after bouncing from the trampoline, competitors must grab the cargo net, then traverse it to reach the landing platform. Because of those modifications, the obstacle was called Hourglass to Tramp to Cargo Net.

Ninja Warrior Germany
The Hourglass Drop appeared as the fifth obstacle of Stage Two in Ninja Warrior Germany 3, with a similar configuration to the version in American Ninja Warrior 7 and the boards being similar to the ones used on the Wave Runner. The boards were placed nearer to each other, meaning competitors just needed to get enough height at the bounce.

Ninja Israel
On Ninja Warrior Israel 2, the Hourglass Drop appeared as the second obstacle in the finals Stage Two, connected with two shelves, which were used in Flying Shelf Grab.

Competitors' Success Rate

 * All results based on the NBC broadcast and external information found