Elijah Browning, better known as The Boss, is a entrepenuer from Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, who first competed on American Ninja Warrior Junior.
He also has two younger siblings, Julian, who also competed on American Ninja Warrior Junior, and an adoptive sister.
American Ninja Warrior Junior[]
Elijah first competed on American Ninja Warrior Junior in the 13-14 age division. His qualifying runs were shown in Episode 3. In the seeding round, he beat Charlie Dieringer. Then, in the knockout round, he won against Abbie Cheng to advance to the final showdown. There, in a rematch against Charlie Dieringer, he won his third straight race, sending him to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, he faced Sophia Lavallee. However, he lost the race to her, and he was eliminated.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
Elijah was originally scheduled to compete in American Ninja Warrior 12 in the season's original St. Louis regional, among with several teenage competitors at the time.[1] Because of Covid-19 however, he had to wait another year before officially making his first appearance on the main show.
He then made his first ANW appearance in season 13. He competed in the first qualifying episode. In qualifying, he impressed everyone by breezing through all six obstacles. He was the first to complete V Formation, which took out many greats that round. He was ultimately the first finisher of the night with the 2nd fastest time, as well as one of just five competitors that round to complete the obstacle.
In the semifinals, he competed in the first episode. There he made it to Split Decision, where he chose the Inverter and failed it when he lost his grip as he was trying to secure his grip on the first board. He was still able to advance to the national finals as he placed 10th overall.
In the national finals, his run on Stage 1 was digested, but it was shown that he made a bet with Akbar to increase the value of his card if he finished Stage 1. And so he did, with 8.52 seconds remaining. On Stage 2, he was the first runner. He put up an impressive run until he ran out of steam on the blind catch on Falling Shelves, just a few inches away from the buzzer, ending his rookie season.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
Browning returned for his second ANW season in the fifth episode of qualifying. This time, he revealed doing training recently on Lance Pekus' farm in Idaho. On the course, while Pekus failed the fifth obstacle, Browning was able to clear the qualifying course for the second time, placing 5th. He did attempt the Mega Wall, but could not scale it successfully.
During the second episode of semifinals, Browning was expected to achieve big heights and qualify for the national finals for the second time, as he was the last competitor of the night. However, in a huge shock, he was one of many to fail on the fifth obstacle, Hopscotch, an obstacle that also took out his training partner Lance Pekus. Because of this, he did not move on to the national finals, and his season ended early.
American Ninja Warrior 15[]
After a devastating exit last season, Elijah returned strong in the fourth qualifying round and completed the course once again. This was his third straight qualifying buzzer. He also placed 3rd overall as well.
During the semifinals, he raced Roberto Garemore. Elijah showed his incredible speed by once again blowing through the entire course and completing it in 53.89 seconds. Elijah was the second fastest overall and raced R.J. Roman for the Safety Pass, however, Roman was way faster than him, and thus he lost the race. Despite that, Elijah still advanced to the national finals after not doing so last year.
On Stage One, he failed Thread the Needle after missing the transition to the hook. Despite an earlier than anticipated fall, he barely scraped in to Stage Two, moving on in 24th place. On Stage Two, he raced against Kaden Lebsack in the final heat. Both cruised through the first four obstacles, but on Epic Air Surfer, due to slips on the track, Kaden shockingly fell on the very end on the obstacle. That allowed Elijah to correct himself, subsquently completing the course, even getting his revenge on Falling Shelves, and advancing to Stage Three for the first time. On Stage Three, he started off strong, but he failed the last obstacle, Road Signs, ending his best season to date.
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
Elijah returned in the second qualifier. His run was digested, but it was shown that he shockingly failed on the fourth obstacle, Duck Duck Goose, marking the first time he failed on a qualifying course. He placed 12th overall, and had to compete in the runoffs against Roberto Garemore, the same opponent that he faced last season in the semifinals. The race was close, but Elijah managed to barely beat Roberto to the buzzer, thus advancing to the semifinals by the skin of his teeth.
Elijah later competed in the last semifinal episode, where he raced against the other Garemore brother, Nacssa Garemore. It was a neck to neck race, but than Nacssa got ahead of Elijah on Spin Hopper and beat him to the buzzer, and Elijah lost the race. Fortunately, Elijah was the top non-winner of that round and he advanced to the national finals for the third time in his career, once again barely advancing to the next round.
In Vegas, Elijah completed Thread the Needle this time around, and finished Stage One with 21.90 seconds left. He later raced against Isaiah Thomas on Stage Two. It was a close race until Isaiah failed on Epic Air Surfer while Elijah once again cleared the course and he once again made it to Stage Three. On Stage Three, he once again started strong, but he was the first competitor shown to have failed on the new fifth obstacle Pizza Party, once again ending his season on Stage Three.
American Ninja Warrior 17[]
Elijah returned in the first qualifying round of American Ninja Warrior 17 where he was able to get revenge on his previous qualifier fail, as he was able to get through the fourth obstacle. He was able to hit his fourth qualifying buzzer and finished under a minute with the fastest time of the night. He was able to attempt the Mega Wall, but he wasn't able to clear it.
Elijah later competed in the first semifinals episode, being shown as the last runner of the episode. There, he was looking good and it seemed like he was going to hit his first buzzer on a ten obstacle semifinals course, but he unfortunately ended up falling at the very top of the Invisible Ladder, just missing out on his third straight semifinal buzzer. Nevertheless, he still placed 10th overall as the top non-finisher of the episode, once again advancing him to the national finals.
Trivia[]
- Elijah is one of twelve winners of the runoff races to also advance to the Las Vegas national finals.
References[]
American Ninja Warrior Results[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Failed Falling Shelves (Stage Two) | ||
| 15 | Failed Road Signs (Stage Three) | Failed Thread the Needle on Stage One, but was allowed to advance due to the change in format. | |
| 16 | Failed Pizza Party (Stage Three) |