Wave Runner

The Wave Runner is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the third obstacle on American Ninja Warrior 8 in Stage Two, replacing the Unstable Bridge from the past four American Ninja Warrior seasons.

This obstacle is a combination of the Unstable Bridge and the Hourglass Drop, consisted of two boards. The first one is an uneven S-board (similar from the board from the Hourglass Drop), and the second one is an an uneven pyramid board.

Competitors must hold onto to both sides of the boards and maintain their balance while crossing. While crossing the first board, competitors must use momentum to reach the second board. On the second board, competitors must reach the other side while keeping both ends even.

In its first appearance, this obstacle took out half of the competitors who attempted this obstacle, including Flip Rodriguez, Jessie Graff, Neil Craver, Nicholas Coolridge, Adam Rayl, and most notably, Joe Moravsky (making it the first time he fell at Stage Two), as well as Diego Gonzalez from Team Latin America during USA vs. The World 3.

A special rule was implemented in this obstacle, in which competitors must make a transition to the second board, before being able to make a dismount (as competitors could have the ability to skip the second board entirely by dismounting from the first board). This rule came into play, when Flip Rodriguez dismounted the obstacle early by only touching the second board, resulting in a disqualification. Drew Drechsel almost got disqualified on this obstacle for dismounting the obstacle early. Fortunately, he was able to grab the second board and got a grip, successfully landed the platform, and completed the obstacle.

American Ninja Warrior 9
The Wave Runner returned on American Ninja Warrior 9, once again as the third obstacle in Stage Two, with a similar specification from the previous season, albeit the boards being larger. Only 7 out of 36 competitors who attempted it, failed on this obstacle (Brent Steffensen, Cass Clawson, Dave Cavanagh, Josh Levin, Eric Middleton, Nick Kostreski, and Tyler Gillett), in addition of Alexander Mars from Team Europe and Yosua Laskaman Zalukhu from Team Asia during USA vs. The World 4.

On American Ninja Warrior 10, the obstacle was replaced by the Déjà Vu.

Competitors' Success Rate

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