Madyson "Mady" Howard is an ICU nurse and former gymnast, who first competed on American Ninja Warrior 11.
American Ninja Warrior 11[]
Mady first competed in Seattle-Tacoma for American Ninja Warrior 11. In qualifying, her run was digested, but it showed that she failed the Lightning Bolts. However, she went at a fast pace and placed 3rd in the women's top 5.
In the city finals, she got her revenge on the Lightning Bolts and scaled the Warped Wall on her first try. But although she looked solid on the Floating Monkey Bars, her grip gave out. Even so, her fast pace helped her once again, as she placed 8th overall and second among the women to qualify for Las Vegas in her rookie year.
In Vegas, her run was digested, but it was shown that she failed the Double Dipper, ending her rookie season.
American Ninja Warrior 12[]
Mady competed for her second season in American Ninja Warrior 12. As a team captain, she brought along Kemar Barcoo and Faith Fitzgerald to compete as well. In qualifying, Mady shared her backstory of being on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic as an ICU nurse. She blazed through the course and although she had a slight stumble on the Spinning Bridge, she managed to complete the course and place 1st among the women to qualify for the semifinals. This was also her first buzzer in her ANW career.
In the semifinals, she once again stumbled on the balance obstacle, this time being Burn Rubber. Unfortunately, this time she was not able to save it and failed there, eliminating her from the competition. She missed out on qualifying by one spot.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship[]
Mady also competed on the Women's Championship which was taped during Season 12. During the first round, her run was digested, but she finished the course with the second fastest time. In the second round, Mady made it all the way to the ninth obstacle, The Dungeon, before falling, but she placed 4th and moved on to the Power Tower. However, she lost to the eventual-champion Meagan Martin in the first Power Tower match.
In February 2021, Mady announced on Instagram that she is pregnant and expecting in August, so she did not compete on American Ninja Warrior 13.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
Mady returned the next season in American Ninja Warrior 14, now with her newborn son Beckham on the sidelines. She ran the course in the fifth episode of qualifying, where it was mentioned that she competed just six months after giving birth. She managed to put a good run through the first four obstacles, but was one of many to fail Final Frontier. Her time to that obstacle placed her 30th overall, and so she advanced to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, she competed in the second episode. While she was able to make it past the first three obstacles, she had a nasty fall on the Spinning Bridge (an obstacle she barely cleared in ANW 12), where she fell off course near the landing pad. However, her performance was still enough to make the womens' top 3, placing 3rd and advancing to the national finals for the second time.
In the nationals, her Stage One run was digested, but she failed on the Giant Rollercoaster, once again going out on the third obstacle.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 3[]
Mady also competed on the third Women's Championship special, taped during American Ninja Warrior 14 National Finals. During the first round, her run was digested, but she got revenge on the Giant Rollercoaster, only to fall on the next obstacle, the Jumping Spider, eliminating her from the competition.
American Ninja Warrior 15[]
Mady returned to compete in American Ninja Warrior 15's second round of qualifying. She made it to Ring the Bells, before falling just short of completing the obstacle. She still finished in 2nd place among the women, and advanced to the Semifinals.
During the semifinals, she raced against Ally Tippetts-Wootton. Both women made it to Slingshot, but Mady got there first, winning the race and a spot in the National Finals.
At the national finals, she got past the third obstacle on Stage One for the first time in the regular season, but she failed one obstacle later on the Jumping Spider.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 4[]
Mady returned for the American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 4 where for the first time she conquered the Jumping Spider (that she failed during the regular season and in the previous championship), and she made it deep into the course before failing on Thread the Needle but she was the fastest to the obstacle so she landed in fourth place and moved onto Stage Two. On Stage Two, she raced against the legend Jessie Graff where they both made it to the third obstacle, Jawbreakers where she kicked the bar and couldn’t hold on, but because Jessie cleared the previous obstacle first, she didn’t move onto Stage Four.
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
Mady returned for her fifth season in American Ninja Warrior 16 in the third qualifying round in the second episode. They showed a combination of her runs from the previous few seasons, many of which ended with her failing on the fifth obstacle. She got through the dangerous Heavy Metal but then failed the fifth obstacle, The Cubes where she couldn’t hold onto the moving side of the third cube ending her qualifying run. Though this was her fourth time coming up short on the fifth obstacle in qualifying, it was still enough to move onto the semifinals in 2nd place for the women.
She later competed in the first semifinal episode, where she raced against Jaelyn Bennett. The race was digested, but it was pretty close until Jaelyn failed on Sideways while Mady cleared the obstacle and continued before falling on the next obstacle Spin Hopper (though her fail on the obstacle wasn't shown on air). Nevertheless she won the race and once again advanced to the national finals.
Mady returned in the first half of Stage One as the only mom to make it to the National Finals that season. This time, she got her revenge on the Jumping Spider. Despite some struggles with the playing card, she was also able to complete The Gambler as well. She later became the first mom to get past the Vegas version of the Warped Wall, timing out right before the Dipping Birds. This marks the farthest point a mother has ever made it on Stage One in ANW.
American Ninja Warrior 17[]
Mady returned for his sixth season in the fifth qualifying episode, being shown as the first runner of the episode. There she got past the Ferris Wheel, marking just the second time that she cleared the fifth obstacle during the qualifiers and she hit her second ever buzzer on the main show as well as the first one as a mom, placing 13th overall.
She competed in the second round of the semifinals. Mady made it through the first two obstacles with ease, but failed the Log Runner, completely overstepping the third log. This served as the third time Mady went out on a balance obstacle on a ten-obstacle semifinal round. At the end of the round, she didn't move onto the national finals, ending her season early on the third obstacle.
This marked the first time since ANW12 that she failed to advance past the semifinals. Ironically, her season in ANW 17 played out almost the exact same as ANW 12. In both seasons she completed the qualifier course, which were later followed up by an early elimination on a balance obstacle in the semifinals round.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 5[]
Mady returned for the fifth Women's Championship, which was taped during season 17. During the first round, she cleared the course in 5th place and advanced to the second round. During the second round she raced against Katie Bone (the winner of the third Women's Championship). Mady had the lead at first, but she ended up falling on the Floating Monkey Bars while Katie cleared the course, thus eliminating her from the competition.
Trivia[]
- She is one of three competitor to fail both the Double Dipper and the Giant Rollercoaster. The others being Michael Bougher, and Rachel Degutz. All three failed the Giant Rollercoaster in ANW 14.
- Mady is the first woman to be the first competitor in the broadcast to hit a buzzer.
- Mady is the second mom (following Sandy Zimmerman) to hit a qualifying buzzer and the first mom to have hit a qualifying buzzer prior to being a mom.
Results[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Failed Double Dipper (Stage One) | Digest. | |
| 14 | Failed Giant Rollercoaster (Stage One) | Digest. | |
| 15 | Failed Jumping Spider (Stage One) | ||
| 16 | Failed Dipping Birds (Stage One) | Timed out four seconds after completing the Warped Wall. Farthest point a mom has made it on Stage One. |