Michael Torres

Michael Torres first competed on American Ninja Warrior 8 at the eligible age of 21, just barely meeting the age requirements before competing on the course. In total, he competed six times on American Ninja Warrior from 2016 to 2021.

Life
Michael Torres was born on March 1, 1995, as the second oldest of six kids. He grew up in Minotola, New Jersey. In high school, he was an all around athlete. He became a carpenter and used his professional skills also to built obstacles for his own training. In 2018, after his success in American Ninja Warrior, he moved to Illinois and became a gym manager. He is the general manager of the Ultimate Ninjas location in Glenview, Illinois. Michael was married on June 28th, 2020. He and his wife Sarah are living in Hoffman Estates near Chicago.

American Ninja Warrior 8
Michael first competed as a rookie in Philadelphia in American Ninja Warrior 8. His run in qualifying was cut, but he was only 1 of 9 competitors that cleared the qualifying course, in which he finished with the 4th fastest time. In the city finals, Michael breezed through the first eight obstacles but eventually was one of many to fall on the Stair Hopper. Torres had placed 7th overall in the top 15 and moved on to the national finals.

In the national finals, he finished stage 1 with a mere 00:00.08 seconds left. With Torres having the slowest time out of all stage 1 finishers, he was the first competitor that took on stage 2 and failed the first obstacle, the Giant Ring Swing.

American Ninja Warrior 9
Michael returned to compete in Cleveland in American Ninja Warrior 9. His run in qualifying was digested, but it was shown that he jumped up the entire first section of the Ring Jump in one move. He cleared the course with the 8th fastest time. His run in the city finals was also digested, but it was shown that he was one of many to fall on the Nail Clipper, placing 6th. Torres made his second trip to Vegas, where he went at a more quicker pace than the previous year. However, he got careless and his feet slipped on the Jumping Spider, ending his season.

American Ninja Warrior 10
Michael returned to compete in Minneapolis in American Ninja Warrior 10, where it is revealed that he now lives in the Chicago area to run a ninja gym. His run was cut in qualifying, but it was revealed that he attempted the Mega Wall, but failed to complete it. He still cleared the course with the 4th fastest time. In the city finals, he was putting up a strong pace early but shockingly failed the leap to the final board of The Hinge, coming just inches away from the landing platform. Unfortunately, it was not enough for him to qualify for the national finals, as he placed 17th overall.

However, the broadcast had him supposedly "on the bubble" and the broadcast says he had gotten 16th place. This could be due to Meagan Martin placing 16th, but still moving on to Vegas via the top 2 women rule. However, Meagan made it further than him so it could still be answered. It could possibly mean women who qualified through the rule are completely taken off the leaderboard placing Michael 16th with Megan moving on anyways.

American Ninja Warrior 11
Torres returned to compete in Cincinnati on American Ninja Warrior 11. His qualifying run was digested, but it was shown that he had failed all three attempts on the Mega Wall. He still placed 12th overall and moved on to the city finals. During the city finals, he had cleared the course and placed 2nd overall, meaning that he would race Ethan Swanson on the Power Tower. On the Power Tower, Michael was behind but quickly edged out Ethan and won the Safety Pass.

In the national finals, he finished on his first try, moving on to stage 2. He also completed Stage 2 on his first try and advanced to Stage 3, being the only Safety Pass winner who did not need to use it. In Stage 3, he was able to make the swinging transition on the Ultimate Cliffhanger, but at that point, he was extremely tired and in pain and tried to rush the dismount near the end. He swung not nearly enough and came up a few inches short from landing the dismount.

American Ninja Warrior 12
Torres returned to compete in the last qualifying episode of American Ninja Warrior 12. He had a fast pace through the course and cleared with the fastest time, once again making it to the Power Tower. In the Power Tower, he stumbled a bit on the descent, thus slowing him down a bit. After trying a last-ditch attempt to make an early dismount onto the platform to hit the buzzer, he failed to do so and landed backwards onto the mat. He ultimately lost to Joe Moravsky. During the second semifinals episode, he took a slower approach and he once again cleared the course in 5th place. During the finals, he had a close call on the Falling Shelves but he still made it past the obstacle. Unfortunately, he failed one obstacle on the Diamond Dash (an obstacle that he got past twice in season 10), ending his season.

American Ninja Warrior 13
He returned to compete in the fifth and last qualifying episode as the final runner of the night. In arguably one of the most surprising moments of the season, he failed on just the second obstacle, Double Down. In an emotional interview with Zuri, he explanined that he planned for a single swing dismount off the second bar, but was caught off guard by the speed going down the track, and ended up failing hard on back on the platform. Fortunately, he was not injured, but this meant that he didn't qualify for the semifinals for the first time in his career. It's also worth mentioning that he fall meant that, Kyle Schulze (who Torres brought for the previous season) was able to move onto the semifinals in 30th place.

Other Appearances
Torres appeared as a member of the Phoenix Force team in American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja. The team won the qualifying round and advanced to the playoffs, but lost there to Team Wolfpack.

Trivia

 * Torres is the only competitor on American Ninja Warrior 11 to never use his Safety Pass, as he completed Stage One and Two without any retry.