Austin Gray is a Ninja coach from Longmont, Colorado.
Prior to competing, Gray had given away one of his kidneys to his lifelong friend, Kaylee Adams. Kaylee had suffered from focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a disease caused by scar tissue in the filtering unit of the kidney.
His motto is "Share Your Spare" to encourage organ donation.
American Ninja Warrior 10[]
Austin Gray at the Minneapolis City Qualifiers - American Ninja Warrior 2018
Austin Gray at the Vegas Finals- Stage 1 - American Ninja Warrior 2018
Austin first competed in Minneapolis in American Ninja Warrior 10. In qualifying, he failed to scale the Mega Wall, and was also unable to scale the regular Warped Wall. He still advanced to the city finals, placing 15th.
In the city finals, his run was digested but he fell on Iron Maiden and missed out on hitting the buzzer again. He still placed 12th overall and moved on to the national finals.
In the national finals, Austin ended up hitting his very first buzzer, finishing Stage One with 33.89 seconds left. He was also the first person that night to do it, as well as the first to hit a buzzer on Stage One during that season altogether.
However, on Stage Two, his season ended early on Deja Vu, mainly due to him expanding too much energy on Epic Catch and Release.
American Ninja Warrior 11[]
He returned in Tacoma for his sophomore season. He was expected by several to go farther after a breakout rookie year. However, in a shocking disbelief, he stumbled on Broken Bridge, and was unable to recover, quickly ending his sophomore season.
This serves as the earliest exit during his ANW career, being the only season where he did not make it to the semifinals round or the Las Vegas National Finals of a season.
American Ninja Warrior 12[]
Austin Gray came back to compete in American Ninja Warrior 12 for his third season, he was invited by veteran Lorin Ball. His run was digested, but despite failing the Mega Wall, he completed the qualifying course for the first time in his career, placing fourth.
In the semifinals, his run was digested again, but he completed the course with the third fastest time of the night.
In the finals, he flew through the new obstacles to once again fly up the Spider Trap and that was enough over the two nights to race on the Power Tower playoffs, placing 5th.
In the first matchup, Gray competed against Najee Richardson, but in one of the biggest shocks of the season, Austin won then moving onto the second round. He then went up against Amir Malik in the second matchup, where he won that round to make it to the championship. In the Championship round, he was going against Daniel Gil in the quest of $100,000. But Gil completed the Tower faster than him, making Gil the champion of the season, thus making Gray the runner-up of the season.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
He returned to compete for his fourth season, participating in the fourth qualifying round. His run was digested, but it was shown that he failed Pretzel Twist, like many others but he still advanced to the semifinals by placing 14th. He later competed in the last semifinals episode. There, he once again cleared the semifinal course, and since he did it with the second fastest time, he was able to make it back to the Power Tower and raced against Jake Murray. He won the race after Jake tried to go sideways on the shelf to catch up with him, and thus he got the Safety Pass.
In the national finals, his run on Stage One was digested, but he cleared the course with over 20 seconds to spare. Then, on Stage Two, he managed to get past the third obstacle this time around (this time being V Formation) and was just one of four competitors to clear Stage Two. It is also worth noting that he was the only Safety Pass winner who didn't need to use it that season.
On Stage Three, he was looking strong, but he nearly failed on the Pipe Dream when the wall tipped back on him and he had to recover. He later failed on Eyeglass Alley, when he could not transfer the second eyeglass to one of the hooks, and thus running out of energy, ending his breakout season. Since he got to the obstacle faster than Vance Walker, but was bested by Kaden Lebsack (who went on to complete Stage Three), he ultimately became the runner-up of the season once again. He was also the top veteran of the season as well.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
Austin returned for his fifth season in the fourth qualifying episode as one of the favorites to win it all. He performed strong, being one of only eight competitors to get past the Final Frontier that episode. He considered attempting the Mega Wall for a moment, but he ultimately chose not and went on to hit his second buzzer on a qualifying course. He placed second overall that episode, right behind his training partner and friend, Nate Hansen.
He later competed in the fourth and final semifinal episode. There he once again cleared the course, this time with the fastest time and once again made it back to the Power Tower, this time racing against his friend and training partner, Nate Hansen. On the Power Tower, it looked like Austin was once again going to get the Safety Pass after Nate got hung up on the ropes. However, Austin ended up slipping on the cliffhanger edge, giving Nate the win and also meaning that he didn't have the Safety Pass with him for his third appearance at the national finals.
On Stage One, things were looking good until he struggled with the Tetherball, where he got low on the rope and had to climb up and dismount from the cylinder. Unfortunately, he fell off the side of the platform, and his foot touched the water, marking the first time he failed on Stage One and without the Safety Pass this time around, his season was over.
American Ninja Warrior: Couples Championship[]
Austin and his girlfriend, Jaelyn Bennett competed in the first ever American Ninja Warrior: Couples Championship where in the first round they were the fifth couple to attempt the course and both Jaelyn and Austin were able to clear their three respective obstacles getting six points (becoming one of two to have a perfect round with the other being Jesse Labreck & Chris DiGangi). In the second round, they were once again able to beat the first six obstacles but Jaelyn shockingly failed the Salmon Ladder while Austin was able to clear the final two obstacles on the back half getting eight points but placed 3rd as they were eliminated by Jesse Labreck & Chris DiGangi, not moving onto the Power Tower.
American Ninja Warrior 15[]
Gray returned in the second round (first episode) of qualifiers. His run was digested, but he once again completed the course, this time in 5th place. His semifinal race was digested as well, but he beat Cade Perkins who fell on Slingshot, while Austin went on to hit the buzzer. In Vegas, his run was digested for the third time that season, but he got revenge on last year's fail by finishing Stage One once again. On Stage Two, he was up against Josiah Pippel. Austin was behind for much of the race until Josiah had an unexpected fall on the Epic Air Surfer, Austin made a great save on the landing platform and eventually completed the course, getting the win and advancing to Stage Three. On Stage Three, Austin got past the sixth obstacle this time being Pressure Cooker despite some struggles, but he ended up falling on the next and final obstacle of Stage Three, falling on the new Road Signs, ending his best season to date.
American Ninja Warrior: Couples Championship 2[]
Prior to their appearance in the American Ninja Warrior: Couples Championship 2, it had been announced that Jaelyn and Austin had broken up during the off season. They were the seventh couple to attempt the course and were once again able to conquer the whole course earning six points moving onto the next round in second place. In the first round of racing, Austin and Jaelyn raced against Ian Weber & Karissa Weber where after Jaelyn and Karissa both failed Hopscotch, it was shown that Austin cleared the Wingnuts just ahead of Ian, letting Austin and Jaelyn move onto the semifinals. In the semifinals, they raced against Luke Dillon & Avery Glantz where Jaelyn once again failed Hopscotch eliminating them from the competition, ending their run at the championship.
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
Austin returned in the fifth qualifying round of ANW 16. He was the last runner and needed to beat his friend Nate Hansen's time through the Spinning Bridge to advance. He managed to hit his third straight qualifying buzzer with the 3rd fastest time, eliminating Nate in the process.
He later competed in the first semifinals, where he faced Barry Boyd. Austin kept the lead for the whole race and ultimately completed the course, moving on to the national finals.
In Vegas, his Stage One run was again digested, but he once again cleared Stage One with 51.68 seconds left, the fourth fastest time of that season, where it was revealed at the end of the episode that he will be racing against James McGrath on Stage Two. On Stage Two, Austin had the lead throughout most of the race and was able to get through the course faster than James and go back to Stage Three with one of the fastest times. On Stage Three, he was looking strong, until he failed on the new Pizza Party, ending his last season on the show.
On August 17th, 2024, Austin announced on Instagram that this will be his final ANW appearance. [1]
Trivia[]
- Gray is one of two competitors in American Ninja Warrior 10 to fail the Warped Wall in qualifying, with the other being Venn Johns. In both cases, this was due to the rule that season that failing to scale the Mega Wall would result in only one attempt on the 14'6 wall, which both were unable to do.
- He is the second competitor who did not need to use the Safety Pass on either Stage One or Two in American Ninja Warrior, the first being Michael Torres (ANW11) . He, along with Torres, are additionally one of five competitors in any Ninja competition to have a Safety Pass second chance advantage be voided, as Gray was followed by Jay Lewis in ANW14, in addition to Charlie Robbins (AuNW4) and Zak Stolz (AuNW4) in Australian Ninja Warrior.
- He is the first ninja on American Ninja Warrior to be runner-up two seasons in a row along with being one of two around the world with the other being, Bryson Klein.
- Austin is the first ninja to clear the ANW12 version of the Falling Shelves and the ANW13 version of the Falling Shelves on Stage Two.
- Gray is one of five Safety Pass recipients to have failed to complete the qualifying course. The others are Karson Voiles, Michael Torres, Brian Burkhardt, and Sam Folsom.
- After his Stage One fall in Season 14, he was shown to test the Hornet's Nest, Patriot Pass and Chop It Up in Season 14 during the respective obstacle overviews in Vegas.
- Gray has actually completed Stage Three in testing during Season 14, back when the Flying Bar was still on that stage, as revealed on his Instagram when he had said Season 16 was his last one ever, there was a clip of him beating Flying Bar.
Results[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Failed Deja Vu (Stage Two) | ||
| 13 | Failed Eyeglass Alley (Stage Three) | He reached the obstacle faster than Vance Walker and became the runner up. | |
| 14 | Failed Tetherball (Stage One) | As he tried to dismount, his momentum pulled him off the course and his foot touched the water. First time he fell at Stage One. | |
| 15 | Failed Road Signs (Stage Three) | ||
| 16 | Failed Pizza Party (Stage Three) | Austin Gray's final American Ninja Warrior appearance. |