Vance Walker

Vance Walker is a ninja coach, two-time American Ninja Warrior Junior winner, and two-time Grand Champion of American Ninja Warrior. He nicknames himself the Walker Texas Ninja, as he is originally from Texas. He lived in Marietta, Georgia for some time, but has since moved back to Texas. He currently lives in Florida. Vance is also notable for having cerebral palsy, with which he was diagnosed at 18 months old. Prior to his appearances in ANW, he was shown supporting Ryan Stratis in Miami in ANW10.

American Ninja Warrior Junior[]

Vance first competed in Episode 11 of the inaugural season of American Ninja Warrior Junior. He qualified to compete in the 13-14 year old age bracket. In the seeding round, he faced Christian Youst and beat him to the buzzer by 0.2 seconds. As the winner of that race, he faced Leah Wickert in the knockout round. He put up another strong run and hit the buzzer, while Leah fell on Flying Shelf Grab. He faced a rematch against Christian Youst in the final showdown. Both were initially neck-and-neck, but Vance eventually pulled ahead and delivered a decisive victory, advancing to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, he first faced and defeated Max Feinberg. Then, in the top 8, he won against Hudson Humphries to advance to the finals.

In the finals, he first faced and defeated Jonathan Godbout to advance to the championship relay. Then, he defeated Nate Pardo, finishing the course with the fastest time of the competition. He became the first 13-14 champion of American Ninja Warrior Junior and won $15,000.

American Ninja Warrior Junior 2[]

Vance returned for American Ninja Warrior Junior 2 in the 13-14 age division once again. His qualifying runs were shown in QR EP 7. In the seeding round, he faced and defeated ANW Jr's 11-12 4th place finisher Caleb Brown. Then, in the knockout round, he won against Ceri Evans to advance to the final showdown. There, he won a rematch against Caleb Brown and advanced to the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, he first faced and defeated Josiah Pippel to advance to the top 8. Then, in his third race against Caleb Brown, he won yet again, sending him to the finals for the second straight year.

In the finals, he first faced and defeated Devan Alexander to advance to the championship race once again. There, he faced Kaden Lebsack and won yet again, becoming the first two-time champion of American Ninja Warrior Junior and winning yet another $15,000.

American Ninja Warrior[]

American Ninja Warrior 13[]

Walker made his ANW debut in the third qualifying round of American Ninja Warrior 13 at the age of 16. He moved at a slower, more cautious pace, making moves such as making the long lache on Overpass and taking extra swings on Pretzel Twist. While in the middle of Pretzel Twist, he also answered Akbar's question of whether he would attempt the Mega Wall, responding with, "I am!" He stuck with his plan, becoming both the youngest and shortest competitor at 16 years old and 5'5" to scale the Mega Wall, winning $10,000. He placed 10th overall and secured a spot in the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Walker once again impressed everyone, moving efficiently and confidently. He cleared the front half of the course quickly and powered through the back half of the course. He had a slight scare on the second wheel of Padlock, nearly spinning out of control, but he managed to recover. He then opted to take on The Dungeon at Split Decision, clearing it easily. Partly due to his cerebral palsy, Vance saw his first real signs of struggle the Spider Trap. To keep his traction on the walls, Vance had to position his legs to one side instead of evenly distributing his weight. Furthermore, he was forced to break through the trapdoors using his shoulders and only used his arms to lock the doors open once he stuck his head in between the doors. Regardless, he pulled through and finished the course with the fastest time of the night with 4:17.90.

Since Vance earned the fastest time of the night, he advanced to the Power Tower in a highly anticipated rematch against Josiah Pippel, whom he had previously eliminated in American Ninja Warrior Junior. For the first time in history, both Power Tower contestants were teenagers. Hopes were high for both competitors, and neither disappointed, as they remained very close to one another. However, that all changed on the Dropping Shelves. Vance opted to swing from the sides of the shelves (similar to the Wingnuts) rather than the front, gaining a single-shelf lead and hitting the buzzer, earning the Safety Pass.

In the National Finals, Walker put up another impressive run on Stage One. In one of the season's funnier moments, Vance tripped on his own feet after clearing the Double Dipper. He quickly recovered and moved through the course easily, keeping his perfect streak alive and clearing Stage One with 20 seconds remaining. On Stage Two, he had a strong start but shockingly failed the Double Salmon Ladder after missing the first open set of cradles. Although he got a second chance thanks to his Safety Pass, his perfect streak of never failing an obstacle sadly came to an end. On his second attempt, he was able to correct his mistake on the Double Salmon Ladder and made the most of his second chance. He had a close call on Hammer Drop after banging his head on the pendulum and failing to grasp the left handle, but stayed alive by wrapping his feet around the pendulum. He then became the first ninja of the season to clear the Falling Shelves, and ultimately Stage Two with 5.28 seconds remaining before being followed by Austin Gray, Kyle Soderman, and Kaden Lebsack to clear the brutal Stage Two.

With the slowest time out of the four competitors who cleared Stage Two, Vance was the first to take on Stage Three. He had a slight scare on the Stalactites when he missed one of the hanging slots, but quickly and calmly recovered. He went on to clear the Ultimate Cliffhanger, but he struggled severely on Pipe Dream. This resulted in him being extremely gassed by the time he reached Eyeglass Alley, and he ultimately failed on the transition to the second pair of eyeglasses. He placed third overall, only behind Austin Gray and Kaden Lebsack. Interestingly, even though he went farther than Gray, he placed third because he completed the previous obstacle slower than Gray. He has the sixth-best rookie attempt in American Ninja Warrior history, behind Matt D'Amico, Hans Hertz, Nacssa Garemore, Noah Meunier, and Kaden Lebsack, with everyone except D'Amico finishing Stage Three.

American Ninja Warrior 14[]

Vance returned for the first round of qualifying in American Ninja Warrior 14. He hoped to hit all six buzzers, already emerging as one of the favorites to win the million dollars. He easily flew across the first four obstacles in a little under 1 minute. However, he failed the Salmon Roll, which shocked many people considering his near-perfect performance the previous season. As it turned out, Vance was a little too aggressive when attempting the 18-inch gap. He got more than enough air to clear the jump but missed the rung by a little less than an inch, causing the bar to rebound as a result of hitting the wheel rather than landing perfectly on the rungs. Despite this, he placed 18th overall and advanced to the semifinals.

He competed in the final Semifinals episode, where his run was digested for the first time on the main show. He went at a fast pace in an attempt to get back to the Power Tower. However, he failed the ninth obstacle, Flipped Around, after he failed to lock his legs onto the final board and slid down into the water below. His run was still enough for him to place 7th overall and advance to the National Finals.

At the National Finals, his Stage One run was also digested. Unfortunately, his disappointments continued as he failed the Jumping Spider, an obstacle he completed the previous season In a shocking note, this meant his sophomore season ended without a buzzer.

American Ninja Warrior 15[]

Vance returned for the seventh round of qualifying. This time, he was looking to get redemption after going from "Mr. Perfect to Mr. Imperfect" on the previous season. He also predicted that achieving Total Victory would take him three seasons: the first to do well, the second to mess up, and the third to earn redemption. He initially had a strong run on the course, but he showed signs of injury after dismounting Kite Surfer. As it turns out, he hit his knee on Pole Vault. Regardless, he flew through Lasso Launch, becoming one of only two competitors to clear the obstacle in that round, and eventually completed the course in first place. It was shown to a gratifying moment for him, as he hit his first buzzer since ANW 13.

He returned for the third round of semifinals. His respectable performance earned him a #2 seed, so he raced against #23 seed Erick Zamorano. Their race was digested, but Vance easily beat his opponent by clearing the course in under a minute. He ultimately earned the fastest time of the night. On the other hand, Zamorano was unable to catch up to Vance, and the former fell on Slingshot after Vance hit a buzzer. Vance hoped to keep his perfect streak of never losing a race alive as he went up against Isaiah Thomas for the Safety Pass. Shockingly, Vance quickly fell behind. He chose to take several steps on each step of Home Run, and he only fell further behind after Isaiah linked moves on Beehive. However, he quickly edged Isaiah out by linking the transition in between Slingshot and Rope Climb, beating Isaiah by a margin of 0.4 seconds.

On Stage One, Vance got his revenge on the Jumping Spider. He struggled to control his momentum on the first hanging chip of The Gambler, but he recovered and became the first to complete Thread the Needle, as well as being the first to finish Stage One that season, doing so with 18 seconds remaining.

Vance's time earned him a #10 seed on Stage Two. He raced against the #15 seed, his old training partner and good friend Ethan Bartnicki. Although both were even through the first two obstacles, Vance quickly fell behind after Ethan Bartnicki proved to be more efficient on Jawbreakers. Vance had an opportunity to regain the lead on Epic Air Surfer, even momentarily jumping ahead of Ethan, but alas, Vance was stuck with running on the red side of the course, which included tracks on Epic Air Surfer that were more slippery than expected. This allowed Ethan, who did not face the same issues, to solidify his lead. In a last-ditch attempt to win his race, Vance attempted to link laches on the Falling Shelves but lost his grip on the third shelf. As it turns out, Vance lost his momentum because he forgot that the first two shelves locked in place. Since Vance got to the obstacle slower than Ethan, he received his first loss on a race. Luckily, he was one of the top four non-winners, so he got to race in the Stage Two Runoffs, where he squared off against Alex Romer. Vance learned from his previous mistakes and moved far more efficiently on Jawbreakers, maintaining an even pace with Alex. However, the latter fell on Swing Surfer, giving Vance the opportunity to clear the course.

Vance had no issues with Stage Three and became one out of a record eight competitors that season to complete the course. On Stage Four, he had a near-perfect technique and became only the fifth competitor ever to achieve Total Victory, doing so with 3.25 seconds left. Since he finished faster than Daniel Gil, Vance became the third-ever American Ninja Warrior champion and took home the grand prize of $1,000,000.

American Ninja Warrior 16[]

Vance returned for his fourth season in the seventh qualifying round. Vance was determined to achieve Total Victory again, and he showed strong runs in his first course attempt of the season. He had a small stumble on Dangerous Waters and took extra swings on Duck Duck Goose, but was otherwise flawless. Although he cleared the course with the fastest time of the night, these small moments cost him precious seconds, and he missed out on attempting the Mega Wall by less than two seconds.

Vance's quick run earned him a #4 seed, meaning that he raced #21 seed Brigham Youngstrom in the semifinals. Vance held the lead throughout the entire race, and he once again cleared the course in under a minute. Brigham ultimately failed Spin Hopper. Although Vance moved on to the National Finals, he only placed 6th at the end of the night and did not get to race for the Safety Pass.

Vance was the final runner in night one of Stage One, he had no problems with the course and moved even quicker than the previous season. He hit another buzzer with over 34 seconds left, placing 9th at the end of the night.

Vance raced legendary ninja Flip Rodriguez, the #18 seed, on Stage Two. Although Flip had a momentary lead after Striding Steps, Vance quickly regained it. This time around, Vance could afford to move conservatively on Jawbreakers, and he maintained his lead going into Swing Surfer. He ran into a slight problem with getting the pendulum swinging, and Flip narrowed Vance's lead by linking the jump from the run-up to the pendulum to the wall, but this did not faze him. Vance did what he could not do on the previous season, which was linking all 4 jumps on Epic Air Surfer. This gave him plenty of breathing space, and he even got his revenge on the Falling Shelves. He finished the course in a little over 1:18, earning 4th place overall and a return trip to Stage Three. This run also marked the first time in which Vance cleared Stage Two on his first attempt, without the assistance of a Safety Pass or Runoffs race.

Vance was the last runner of the night on Stage Three, and it posed to be no problems for him. He crushed the new Pizza Party obstacle and went on to become the fourth ever to defeat Stage Three in back-to-back seasons. He joined Kai Beckstrand, Caleb Bergstrom, Nacssa Garemore, and Noah Meunier for the Stage Four climb-off for the million-dollar prize.

In the finale, Vance had the advantage of having climbed Stage Four before, which allowed him to rely on muscle memory to complete it once again. However, he also banked on the hopes that Kai would suffer from his inexperience on Stage Four and that the other three competitors would not have improved compared to the previous season. As the third runner on Stage Four, Vance had another near-flawless run, climbing the rope in 27.60 seconds - slower than the previous season, which surprised him considering that he had actually missed the rope with his hands twice on the previous season and made up for it this season.

Despite this impressive achievement, Vance still had to watch Caleb Bergstrom and Noah Meunier climb the rope. Although both came close - Caleb managed to become the sixth competitor to achieve Total Victory but was slightly slower than Vance, while Noah timed out by one second - Vance had the best result by the end of the night. He earned the impressive feat of becoming American Ninja Warrior’s first two-time champion, and once again took home the grand prize of $1,000,000.

Vance will not be competing in American Ninja Warrior 17 due to a leg injury.

Trivia[]

His nickname, may be a reference to Walker, Texas Ranger, an American action crime television series that aired from 1993 to 2001.
Vance revealed on Instagram that he was called to compete on American Ninja Warrior 12 due to the producers planning to drop the age requirement that year. Unfortunately, as a result of modifications made due to the pandemic, the younger competitors were cut, so he had to wait another year.^[1]
He is the first competitor with cerebral palsy to compete on both American Ninja Warrior Junior and American Ninja Warrior.
He is the second competitor worldwide to achieve Kanzenseiha while having a disability (cerebral palsy), after Akiyama Kazuhiko from SASUKE (who had degenerative retinisis). Coincidentally, both only took three appearances each to achieve Kanzenseiha.
He is the youngest competitor to achieve Kanzenseiha on American soil, at 18, and the second youngest to do so worldwide, behind Shneor Sameach, at 16.
Prior to competing on any ninja competition, he had trained on a 23-foot tall Warped Wall, which allowed him to easily scale the Mega Wall. ^[2]
Vance is also the fifth rookie in American Ninja Warrior history to complete Stage Two on American soil, after Joe Moravsky, Idoko Abuh, Casey Finley, and Seth Rogers. He is also the first teenager to do so.
- However, if buzzers on the first three seasons of American Ninja Warrior are included, and only competitors who had not previously attempted a SASUKE course are counted, he would be the seventh rookie, after Paul Kasemir and Brent Steffensen.
In a poll on American Ninja Warrior Nation, Vance's Qualifying buzzer was voted as the best buzzer of the Qualifying rounds.
By reaching the end of the sixth obstacle, Vance has the sixth-best rookie performance behind Matt D'Amico, Kaden Lebsack, Hans Hertz, Nacssa Garemore, and Noah Meunier.
Vance is the first competitor to win the Safety Pass twice, doing so in American Ninja Warrior 13 and 15.
Vance and Josiah Pippel are the first ninjas to race on the Power Tower and the semifinals course for the Safety Pass.
Vance, Ethan Bartnicki, and Kyle Soderman are the first three ninjas to have completed and failed the Vegas version of Falling Shelves.
Vance is the fourth ninja to fail a course and conquer Stage Four in the same season, after Isaac Caldiero (who fell in the Kansas City Finals but progressed far enough on the course to qualify for the National Finals), Drew Drechsel (who failed Stage One in his first attempt but later cleared the stage after using his Safety Pass), and Daniel Gil (who fell in the Semifinals and Stage Two but advanced to the next rounds after winning both of his races).
Vance and Daniel Gil are the first and second ninjas to fail Stage Two and conquer Stage Four due to the format changes in American Ninja Warrior 15. Although Vance lost his first race against Ethan Bartnicki but won his Runoffs race while Daniel won his heat but failed the Falling Shelves.
Vance is the second competitor to compete in the season immediately after he won the $1,000,000, after Drew Drechsel (although Dreschel's participation wasn't shown and that he was also competing for $100,000 in American Ninja Warrior 12).
- He is also the fourth competitor to compete in the season immediately after achieving Total Victory. The first was Geoff Britten and the third was Daniel Gil.
Vance was one of six to conquer the semifinals course under a minute in American Ninja Warrior 15.
Vance is the only grand champion to win a runoff race on Stage Two.
Vance is the third grand champion to fail the Jumping Spider, after Isaac Caldiero and Geoff Britten.
Vance is one of seven along with Kaden Lebsack, Daniel Gil, R.J. Roman, Caleb Bergstrom, Noah Meunier, and Nacssa Garemore conquer Stage Three twice.
- He is also one of six to do so in back-to-back seasons; Gil is the only one out of these seven to not achieve that feat.
Vance is the sixth competitor to achieve Total Victory twice, after Miyake Ayako, Urushihara Yuuji, Morimoto Yūsuke, Yogev Malka and Clément Gravier.
- Out of these competitors, he is the third to achieve Total Victory two seasons in a row, after Miyake and Malka.
- He is the youngest competitor to achieve Kanzenseiha twice, at 19, beating out Yogev Malka at 23.
Vance is the first two-time winner of American Ninja Warrior Junior and American Ninja Warrior.
Vance is the fifth competitor to be the Last Ninja Standing twice, after David Campbell, Joe Morvasky, Drew Drechsel, and Kaden Lebsack.
- He is the fourth to achieve that feat in back-to-back seasons. Joe Moravsky is the only person to not do so.
Vance is the first Grand Champion since Geoff Britten to have a perfect season, achieving that feat in American Ninja Warrior 16. In other words, he is the first competitor since Britten to have hit buzzers on all six stages (and win all of his races due to the format changes in season 16).
- Vance is also the first ninja in history to conquer Stage Four with both a perfect and imperfect season.
- Drew was the first Grand Champion to do so but due to the introduction of the Power Tower he hit eight buzzers.
Vance set both the second and the fourth fastest time to conquer Stage Four, with times of 26.75 seconds in American Ninja Warrior 15 and 27.60 seconds in American Ninja Warrior 16, respectively. He sits behind Isaac Caldiero (who set the fastest time at 26.14 seconds) and Drew Drechsel (who placed third after clocked in a time of 27.46 seconds)
Vance is one of two grand champions, alongside Yogev Malka, to have a 100% competition rate on Stage Four after two attempts.
Vance is the fourth competitor to be declared "Last Man Standing" two years in a row, the first being David Campbell in American Ninja Warrior 2 and American Ninja Warrior 3, the second being Drew Drechsel in American Ninja Warrior 10 and American Ninja Warrior 11, and the third being Kaden Lebsack in American Ninja Warrior 13 and American Ninja Warrior 14.
- He's also the second to be declared "Last Man Standing" after finishing Stage Four and be the grand champion after Drew Drechsel.
- He's the first to get the Last Ninja Standing title after completing Stage Four in back to back seasons and win the million both times.
Vance is one of thirteen to conquer the semifinals course in under a minute in American Ninja Warrior 16.

Sources[]

American Ninja Warrior Results[]

ANW	Result	Notes
13	Failed Eyeglass Alley (Stage Three)
14	Failed Jumping Spider (Stage One)	Digest.
15	Total Victory	3.25 seconds left. Fifth to ever beat Stage Four. Last Man Standing.
16	Total Victory	2.40 seconds left. First competitor to achieve Total Victory in back-to-back seasons.

Gallery[]

References[]

[1] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/B8ekcXbHoES/

[2] ttps://www.instagram.com/p/CKcE5IWAvxg/

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