Semi-finals (Ninja Warrior Germany)

In the regular Ninja Warrior Germany seasons, the Semi-finals, also known as Halbfinale in the German language, and originally known as Finals Qualification, or Final Qualifikation, is serving as the second course (exceptions are Ninja Warrior Germany-Ninja Warrior Germany 4, in which it served as third course) of a Ninja Warrior Germany season.

Note*: Even though the Semi-finals was originally called Finals Qualification in the first season of Ninja Warrior Germany, and not Semi-finals, the function of the Finals Qualification of Ninja Warrior Germany is completely equivalent to the function of the Semi-finals and both terms basically refer to the exact same.

Regular Competitions

First Version (Ninja Warrior Germany 1)

Format Overview

In the first season of Ninja Warrior Germany, the Semi-finals was known as the Finals Qualification and there were four Finals Qualification episodes in total, unlike the succeeding seasons of Ninja Warrior Germany, which included only one Semi-finals episode. Each of the Finals Qualifications consisted of 20 participants in total, and those participants, similar to the Preliminary Rounds, would have no time limit on the Finals Qualification course, which meant that they could take as much time on the obstacles as they want. However, similar to the succeeding seasons of Ninja Warrior Germany, only the Top participants of each Finals Qualification, in this case only the Top 7, would advance to the Finals of the season, either based on who completed the course with the best time, or based on who got the furthest in the best time. This, in combination with the fact, that the Finals Qualficiation courses were rather fast-paced courses, meant, that the Finals Qualification was also serving as a sorter and separated the wheat from the chaff, with only those, who had the perfect amount of speed, efficiency and upper body strength, having a realistic chance to qualify for the Finals of the season.

Course/Stage Layout

In this first season of Ninja Warrior Germany, each Finals Qualification course consisted of 5 obstacles in total. And while the first four of these obstacles were placed above a water pool, similar to the most National/International SASUKE/Ninja Warrior shows, the Invisible Ladder had the rings of the obstacle placed above a mechanical safety mat lift. The Finals Qualifications and Second Stage of the Finals both used the same course structure for their respective first four obstacles. The course layout of the Finals Qualifications was the following:

• The first four obstacles were all arranged in a straight line.
• After the fourth obstacle however, the course structure of the Finals Qualifications would make a light right curve to the final obstacle, the Chimney Climb.

Obstacle Layout

The obstacle layout of these Finals Qualification consisted of the obstacle one always being the Downhill Pipe Drop (Rohrschlitten), the second obstacle always being the Spinning Bridge (Chaos-Bälle), the third obstacle always being the iconic Salmon Ladder (Himmelsleiter), the fourth obstacle always being rather grip and technique-intensive obstacle, which also differed from Finals Qualification to Finals Qualification, for example the Unstable Bridge (Hängebrücke), or the Arm Rings (Ring-Labyrinth), and the fifth and final obstacle of each Preliminary Round course being the Chimney Climb (Kamin), with the height of this obstacle being 7.00 metres (circa 22.96 feet).

Competitors

In the first season of Ninja Warrior Germany, only the 20 participants, who performed the best in their Preliminary Round, or the Top 20 of a Preliminary Round, would be allowed to attempt the Finals Qualification course. And, due to the fact that it was an earlier point of the competiton, the sporting backgrounds of these participants ranged from parkour and freerunning to bouldering and climbing to many other sports. However, considering the facts that not many of these participants were professionals in the sport that they were practicing outside of their actual professions, and that the courses required the participants to a wide variety of athletic and mental skills, which also resulted in the fact that there was no sports group that had an advantage, many of these participants failed the early half of the Finals Qualification courses and only a minority of the participants, who managed to reach the Finals Qualification actually managed to clear the course. Exceptions of this include, for example, Benjamin Grams, who was already a professional parkour and freerunning athlete at that time, and still failed the second obstacle of his Finals Qualficiation, the Spinning Bridge.

Version Summary

In total, 31, out of the 80 participants, who attempted the Fianls Qualification courses, cleared the Finals Qualification courses, with 28 of the advancing to the next round, the Finals.

Obstacles Overview

Season	EP	Obstacles
Finals Qualification English Obstacle Names
NWG1	1	① Downhill Pipe Drop					② Spinning Bridge		③ Salmon Ladder		+	④ Unstable Bridge				⑤ Chimney Climb (7m)
	2	① Downhill Pipe Drop					② Spinning Bridge		③ Salmon Ladder		+	④ Cycling Road				⑤ Chimney Climb (7m)
	3	① Downhill Pipe Drop					② Spinning Bridge		③ Salmon Ladder		+	④ Arm Rings				⑤ Chimney Climb (7m)
	4	① Downhill Pipe Drop					② Spinning Bridge		③ Salmon Ladder		+	④ Swinging Frames				⑤ Chimney Climb (7m)
Semi-finals English Obstacle Names
NWG2	-	① Floating Steps		② Ring Swing	③ Prism Tilt		④ Cargo Crossing	⑤ Wind Chimes	⑥ Warped Wall			⑦ Coin Flip			⑧ I-Beam Gap	⑨ Chimney Climb (7m)
NWG3		① Piston Road		② Ring Swing	③ Prism Tilt		④ Spinball Wizard	⑤ I-Beam Cross	⑥ Warped Wall			⑦ Spinning Bridge			⑧ Jumping Spider	⑨ Elevator Climb (7m)
NWG4		① Quintuple Steps		② Double Twister	③ Block Run		④ Doorknob Drop	⑤ Bouncing Spider	⑥ Warped Wall			⑦ Fallout			⑧ Stair Hopper	⑨ Chimney Climb (9m)
NWG5	1	① Shrinking Steps		② Spin Cycle	③ Balance Bridge		④ Slingshot	⑤ Diving Boards	⑥ Snap Back			⑦ Warped Wall			⑧ Ferris Wheel	⑨ Double Dipper + Cargo
												⑦ Mega Wall
	2	① Shrinking Steps		② Lunatic Ledges	③ Balance Bridge		④ Nail Clipper	⑤ Diving Boards	⑥ Fallout			⑦ Warped Wall			⑧ Ferris Wheel	⑨ Double Dipper + Cargo
												⑦ Mega Wall
NWG6	-	① Rib Run		② Pole Grasper	③ Wingnuts				④ Criss Cross Salmon Ladder		+	⑤ Ring Chaser				⑥ Chimney Climb (9m)
NWG7		① Slide Surfer to Ring		② Swinging Blades	③ Walk the Plank				④ Flying Bar		+	⑤ Tilt-A-Whirl				⑥ Spider Trap (9m)
NWG8		① Hazard Cones		② Wall to Wall	③ Salmon Ladder	+	④ Lightning Bolts		⑤ Flipped Around							⑥ Water Walls + Rope Ladder
NWG9		① Log Runner			② Ferris Wheel				③ Jawbreakers			④ Spring Forward				⑤ Water Walls + Rope Ladder
NWG10	1	① Dancing Stones			② Sideways				③ Double Prism Tilt			④ Dragonback				⑤ Spider Trap (9m)
	2	① Dancing Stones			② Corkscrew				③ Double Prism Tilt			④ Stair Hopper				⑤ Spider Trap (9m)
Finals Qualification German Obstacle Names
NWG1	1	① Rohrschlitten					② Chaos-Bälle		③ Himmelsleiter		+	④ Hängebrücke				⑤ Kamin (7m)
	2	① Rohrschlitten					② Chaos-Bälle		③ Himmelsleiter		+	④ Radweg				⑤ Kamin (7m)
	3	① Rohrschlitten					② Chaos-Bälle		③ Himmelsleiter		+	④ Ring-Labyrinth				⑤ Kamin (7m)
	4	① Rohrschlitten					② Chaos-Bälle		③ Himmelsleiter		+	④ Bügel-Wippen				⑤ Kamin (7m)
Semi-finals German Obstacle Names
NWG2	-	① Fünfsprung 2.0		② Ring-Schaukel	③ Dachwippen		④ Cargo-Netz-Wippe	⑤ Winspiel	⑥ Die Wand			⑦ Chaosteller			⑧ Hangel-Träger mit Sprung	⑨ Kamin (7m)
NWG3		① Tonnensprung		② Ring-Schaukel	③ Dachwippen		④ Wünschel-Route	⑤ Hangel-Träger	⑥ Die Wand			⑦ Chaos-Bälle			⑧ Tunnelsprung	⑨ Kamin mit Hebeln (7m)
NWG4		① Fünfsprung		② Rotierende Haken	③ Block-Lauf		④ Hangel-Fall	⑤ Tunnelsprung 2.0	⑥ Die Wand			⑦ Schwung-Scheiben			⑧ Stangen-Treppe	⑨ Kamin (9m)
NWG5	1	① Sprung Tritte		② Schwingende Körbe	③ Balance-Brücken		④ Bungee-Flug	⑤ Feder-Bretter	⑥ Flug-Wippen			⑦ Die Wand			⑧ Riesenrad	⑨ Doppelter Rohrschlitten mit Cargo-Netz
												⑦ Die Mega-Wand
	2	① Sprung-Tritte		② Schwung-Bretter	③ Balance-Brücken		④ Hangel-Trommeln	⑤ Feder-Bretter	⑥ Schwung-Scheiben			⑦ Die Wand			⑧ Riesenrad	⑨ Doppelter Rohrschlitten mit Cargo-Netz
												⑦ Die Mega-Wand
NWG6	-	① Rippen-Lauf		② Hangel-Mikado	③ Schwing-Flügel				④ Zick-Zack Himmelsleiter		+	⑤ Ring-Jagd				⑥ Kamin (9m)
NWG7		① Surf-Bretter		② Schwingende Klingen	③ Planken-Gang				④ Stangen-Flug		+	⑤ Wirbelwind				⑥ Kamin mit Klappen (9m)
NWG8		① Chaos-Kegel		② Wandsprung	③ Himmelsleiter	+	④ Sprungstange 2.0		⑤ Wirbel-Bretter							⑥ Wasser-Wände
NWG9		① Stammrollen			② Riesenrad				③ Hufeisen-Sprung			④ Sprungfedern				⑤ Wasser-Wände