Sandy Zimmerman is a P.E. teacher and mother of three who has competed on seven seasons of American Ninja Warrior.
Her husband, Charles Zimmerman, has competed on American Ninja Warrior 10, and her children have competed in American Ninja Warrior Junior.
American Ninja Warrior[]
American Ninja Warrior 8[]
Sandy first competed on American Ninja Warrior 8 in Los Angeles. Her run was all cut, but on her submission video for ANW 9, it was revealed that she failed Tick Tock.
American Ninja Warrior 9[]
Sandy returned in Los Angeles for American Ninja Warrior 9. Her qualifying run was digested, but it showed that she failed the Cannonball Drop and did not advance to the city finals.
American Ninja Warrior 11[]
Tac Qualifiers 2019
Sandy returned for American Ninja Warrior 11 in Seattle/Tacoma. In qualifying, she finally made it past the second obstacle, this time being the Lunatic Ledges. She went on to become the first competitor of the night to get past the Lightning Bolts, and later scaled the Warped Wall on her second attempt, thus becoming the first mom in American Ninja Warrior history to hit a buzzer. She placed 13th overall and 2nd among the women to move on to the city finals.
On her first appearance in the city finals, she put up yet another strong run on the course, making it as far as the eighth obstacle, the Floating Monkey Bars, before falling. However, she was on the bubble by the time Jessie Graff made it to the same obstacle, and at the end of the round, just missed out on the national finals, placing 14th overall and 3rd among the women.
Although she just barely missed out on advancing, she was a tester for Stage One, being shown in the second episode of Stage One as she tested the seventh obstacle, the Diving Boards.
American Ninja Warrior 12[]
Sandy was invited to compete on the modified American Ninja Warrior 12, bringing along two other moms. In qualifiers, Sandy put up a good run, but missed the second to last transition on the fifth obstacle, Slingshot. She still placed third amongst the women, advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Sandy put on an exceptional performance, once again reaching the eighth obstacle, Corkscrew, before falling. However, she placed second amongst the women and advanced to the finals for the first time. However, in the finals, Sandy missed the blind grab on the third obstacle, Falling Shelves, ending her season.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship[]
Sandy also competed in the Women's Championship special which was taped during Season 12. In the first round, Sandy was one of six competitors to finish the course. In the second round, Sandy made it all the way to the ninth obstacle, The Dungeon. Unfortunately, her time to that point was rather slow, and with four other competitors also reaching the ninth obstacle, she missed out on advancing to the Power Tower.
American Ninja Warrior 13[]
Sandy returned to compete on American Ninja Warrior 13. In qualifiers, on the fifth obstacle, V Formation, she was visibly running out of grip strength, so she attempted to skip the second handle on the descent and ultimately ended up falling. However, she placed 23rd on the overall leaderboard and advanced to the semifinals. In the semifinals, with three women having already reached the eighth obstacle, she needed to get to at least that point to earn her first trip to the national finals. However, in a huge shock, she failed Ring Chaser, an obstacle she completed the previous season, after letting the smaller ring slide off the hook while gathering momentum for the transition. She was shown to be very disappointed with her result and was even seen walking off the set alone after her run.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 2[]
Sandy also competed in the second American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship special which was taped during season 13. In the first round, Sandy had a great save on Wall to Wall, but she ended up failing the Warped Wall and she didn't advance to the second round.
American Ninja Warrior 14[]
Sandy returned to compete on American Ninja Warrior 14 during the second qualifying episode. She had a strong run going, getting past the first three obstacles with ease. On Carnival, she was trying to roll the ball into the first slot, but she ended up missing all three slots and as such, she had to try to do a lache to the cliffhanger ledge and she missed it. Since five other women ended up making to the next obstacle, the Piston Plunge, she unfortunately didn't advance to the semifinals for the first time since ANW 9.
American Ninja Warrior: Family Championship[]
Sandy competed in the first Family Championship alongside son Brett and husband Charlie. Charlie and Brett cleared the first 4 obstacles, while Sandy fell on Sideways, amassing 4 points. The second round was a perfect round, as all of them cleared their obstacles accumulating 6 points, qualifying them into the Power Tower playoffs. Yet in the playoffs, the Auer family beat out the Zimmerman family, eliminating them from the competition in a shock upset.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 3[]
Sandy also competed in the third Women's Championship special, which was taped during American Ninja Warrior 14 National Finals. In the first round, Sandy cleared the first 3 obstacles, but she failed on the Jumping Spider, and she didn't advance to the second round.
American Ninja Warrior 15[]
Sandy returned to compete on American Ninja Warrior 15 in the third qualifying episode, determined to get to Vegas this season. Sandy flew through the first two obstacles, but shockingly failed the Log Runner. She placed 4th, putting her in the Runoffs. Even though the race was digested, it was shown that her opponent, Lindsey Darling, failed the first obstacle while Sandy made it to Sideways, sending her to the semifinals.
Sandy raced Isabella Wakeham in the semifinals. While Sandy appeared to have a slightly slower pace than Isabella, she ultimately advanced to the national finals after Isabella had an unexpected fall on the Flying Shelf Grab. Sandy continued slowly but surely and got revenge on Sideways before failing Slingshot. This was her first time ever advancing to the national finals. She was overjoyed by this result, saying she had waited 8 years for this moment.
Unfortunately, her run ended early in Vegas as she fell on just the second obstacle of Stage One, Three Ring Circus after missing the grab to the disc, ending her best season to date.
American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 4[]
Sandy also competed in the fourth Women's Championship special. She made it through the first two obstacles, but failed the Giant Rollercoaster, eliminating her from the competition.
Despite being one of the top women, she didn’t compete in American Ninja Warrior 16.
Sandy is set to compete in American Ninja Warrior 17.
Trivia[]
- During ANW 11's Tacoma qualifiers, she revealed on broadcast that won a judo championship at the age of 12, having a background in martial arts. In a coincidental timing, her tournament actually happened exactly 30 years ago on the exact day of the qualifying round (May 11) in the exact same location, the Tacoma Dome.
- Though Zimmerman's success was the first to be broadcast, both Karen Wiltin and Maggi Thorne were the first moms to get up the Warped Wall, being that both cleared it in the Oklahoma City finals of that same year a month later. However, she is the first mom to have hit a buzzer, not counting women who gave birth after clearing the Warped Wall or hitting a buzzer (e.g. Michelle Warnky-Buurma, Rachael Goldstein).
- Sandy is one of twelve winners of the runoff races to also advance to the Las Vegas national finals.
- She was the first women to hit a qualifying buzzer over the age of 40 before being followed five years later by Jessie Graff.