Derek Nakamoto is an Asian-American manufacturing engineer, musician, and father of two who competed in four American Ninja Warrior competitions.
American Ninja Warrior 4[]
He first competed in American Ninja Warrior 4, where he put up a good rookie run in qualifying. He beat the qualifier and placed 8th overall.
Then in the Southwest Regional Finals, despite struggling on the Warped Wall, he was able to clear the course fast enough to make the top 15.
In Las Vegas, Nakamoto made an impressive run clearing Stage One with the fastest time. On Stage Two, he kept up his fast pace, but he fell on the Metal Spin when he gripped the bungee chain with his hands above his head, ending his season as the top rookie of ANW 4.
American Ninja Warrior 5[]
In American Ninja Warrior 5, he was expected to go far due to his performance during the previous competition, but shocked many when he failed the fourth obstacle in the qualifiers, the Floating Chains, when he grabbed the chain too low and his downward momentum pulled him off the chain and into the water. As a result, he didn’t move onto the city finals this time around.
American Ninja Warrior 6[]
He came back to compete in American Ninja Warrior 6. This time in qualifying, he completed the qualifying round after a disappointing exit last season, placing 7th overall.
In the city finals, he failed Cannonball Alley but was fast enough to qualify for Las Vegas.
In Vegas, he was one of the many to fail the new obstacle, the Silk Slider, on Stage One when he slipped off the silk as it started declining.
American Ninja Warrior 17[]
On August 16th 2024, Derek posted a submission video for American Ninja Warrior 17 on his YouTube channel. Derek later returned in American Ninja Warrior 17, competing for the first time after eleven years. He competed in the second round of qualifying where his life was shown since then. Since then, Derek is now a 34-year-old manufacturing engineer with two children. Additionally, now being a man with family & career responsibilities, he's had significantly less time to train for ANW, only having 30 minutes at the most to do so nowadays. A stark comparison to when he was able to train an average of 5-6 hours a day when he was younger between the ages of 21-23.
On the course, he wanted to show his kids that he still had it after a long hiatus, as his children were not born at the time of his prime on ANW. However, his run ended on the third obstacle, the Log Runner, and he didn't move onto the semifinals for the first time since ANW5. This was also his earliest exit well in his Ninja career, going out one obstacle worse than his qualifier exit in said season.
ANW Results[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Failed Metal Spin (Stage Two) | ||
| 6 | Failed Silk Slider (Stage One) | Digest. |
Trivia[]
- He and Curtis Tran tie for the longest hiatus on American Ninja Warrior. Both had an 11-year gap between the last time they competed. Coincidentally, both of their hiatuses took place between ANW 6 to ANW 17, and both competed on the same qualifying round in ANW 17.