Vance Walker is a high school student from Texas. He calls himself 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 has also faced challenges with cerebral palsy, with which he was diagnosed at 18 months old.
American Ninja Warrior Junior[]
American Ninja Warrior Junior[]
Vance first competed on the inaugural season of American Ninja Warrior Junior in the 13-14 age division. His qualifying runs were shown in Episode 11. In the seeding round, he faced Christian Youst and beat him to the buzzer by 0.2 seconds. Then, in the knockout round, he faced and defeated Leah Wickert to advance to the final showdown. There, he won the rematch against Christian Youst and advanced 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 future Power Tower opponent 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[]
Junior Ninja Champion Vance Walker Is in the Big Leagues - American Ninja Warrior
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 compared to American Ninja Warrior Junior, making moves such as taking the long Lache on Overpass and taking extra swings on Pretzel Twist. Interestingly, Vance answered Akbar's question of whether he would attempt the Mega Wall at the end of the course, responding with, "I am!" He stuck with his plan, as he not only cleared the qualifying course, but he also became both the youngest and shortest competitor at 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 at a fast and efficient pace. 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 half 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. On the Spider Trap, Vance struggled to keep his legs locked in, but pulled through and finished the course with the fastest time of the night with a time of 4:17.90, beating Josiah Pippel's respectable 5:26.21. On the Power Tower, hopes were high for Vance. Both he and Pippel were neck and neck to start until 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 funniest moments on Stage One, Vance was moving so fast that he tripped on his own feet after clearing the Double Dipper but he kept moving through the course easily, keeping his perfect streak alive and clearing Stage One with 20 seconds remaining. On Stage Two, he shockingly failed the Double Salmon Ladder after missing the first open set of cradles, ending his perfect streak of never failing an obstacle. However, because he still had his Safety Pass, he got another shot at Stage Two. On his second attempt, he was able to correct his mistake on the Double Salmon Ladder and made the most of his second chance. On Hammer Drop, he had a close call when banged his head on the pendulum and failed to grasp the left handle but was able to stay alive by wrapping his feet around the pendulum. He then became the first ninja of to clear the Falling Shelves, and ultimately Stage Two with 5.28 seconds remaining.
Walker then became one of four competitors to attempt Stage Three, alongside Austin Gray, Kyle Soderman, and Kaden Lebsack. Because he had the slowest time out of everyone, he went first. He had a slight scare on the Stalactites when he missed one of the hanging slots, but quickly and calmly recovered. Although he went extremely far into Stage Three, he was extremely gassed on the Eyeglass Alley, falling 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 Pipe Dream (the obstacle preceding Eyeglass Alley) slower than Gray. He has the third-best rookie attempt in American Ninja Warrior history, behind Matt D'Amico and Kaden Lebsack, the latter 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 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 was going at a fast pace in an attempt to get back to the Power Tower. However, he failed the ninth obstacle, Flipped Around, after he kicked the final board and unintentionally threw his grip off. 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. 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" last season. On the course, though he hit his knee on Pole Vault, he was able to fly through the rest of the course and became one of just two competitors that round to complete Lasso Launch and eventually completed the course, placing 1st. It was shown to be a gratifying moment for him, as he hit his first buzzer since ANW 13.
He returned for the third round of semifinals. His race against Erick Zamorano was digested, but he easily beat Zamorano who fell on Slingshot, while Vance completed the course with the fastest time, meaning he got to race for a Safety Pass, going up against The Flyboy; Isaiah Thomas. There, Vance was behind, but made a quick move to edge out Isaiah at the end and earned the Safety Pass again.
On Stage One, Vance got his revenge on the Jumping Spider, which was where he fell the previous season. He took several spins on 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, with 18 seconds remaining.
In Stage Two, he raced against his old training partner; Ethan Bartnicki. Both fell on the Falling Shelves, but since Vance got to the obstacle slower than Ethan, he received his first loss. Luckily, he was one of the top 4 non-winners, so he got to race again in the runoffs, where he squared off with Alex Romer. Romer fell on Swing Surfer, while Vance completed the course.
In Stage Three, he had no issues with the course and was one of a record eight competitors that season to complete Stage Three. On Stage Four, he had near-perfect technique and became only the fifth competitor ever to achieve Total Victory, 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. Despite a small stumble on Dangerous Waters, he was flawless otherwise, completing the course with the fastest time, though he missed out on attempting the Mega Wall by one second.
Vance raced Brigham Youngstrom in the semifinals. Vance held the lead throughout the entire race with Brigham failing Spin Hopper and him hitting another buzzer and earning another trip to the National Finals.
Vance was the final runner in night one of Stage One, where he had no problems with the course finishing with over 34 seconds left, hitting another Stage One buzzer. On Stage Two, he raced against the legend Flip Rodriguez, where he had the lead throughout most of the course (even got his revenge on the Falling Shelves) and finished the course, going back to Stage Three.
Vance was the last runner of the night on Stage Three, and it posed to be no problems for Vance as he crushed the new Pizza Party and went on to become the fourth ever to defeat Stage Three in back-to-back seasons and the second that night to complete it, joining Kai Beckstrand and three others at Stage Four for the million dollar climb off. In the finale, Vance was able to once again conquer Stage Four, and after both Caleb Bergstrom (who became the sixth competitor and third runner-up to achieve Total Victory) and Noah Meunier couldn’t beat his time, he became the winner of the $1,000,000 once again, becoming American Ninja Warrior’s first two-time champion.
Vance is set to compete in American Ninja Warrior 17.
Trivia[]
- His nickname, Walker Texas Ninja, may be a reference to Walker, Texas Ranger, an American action crime television series which 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 of them 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 from Ninja Israel (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]
- He is also the fifth rookie in American Ninja Warrior history and first teenager to complete Stage Two.
- His qualifying run was voted on American Ninja Warrior Nation as the best buzzer of the Qualifying rounds.
- He had the fourth best rookie performance, behind Matt D'Amico, Kaden Lebsack, and Noah Meunier and tying with Seth Rogers, failing the sixth obstacle.
- Vance is the first competitor to win the Safety Pass twice.
- He and Josiah Pippel are the first ninjas to race on the Power Tower and the semifinals course for the Safety Pass.
- He, Ethan Bartnicki, and Kyle Soderman are the first three ninjas to have completed and failed the Vegas version of Falling Shelves.
- Vance is the second ninja after Isaac Caldiero to fail a course and still conquer Stage Four.
- Vance is the first ninja to fail Stage Two (but still move on) and conquer Stage Four.
- Vance is the first competitor to compete the season after he won $1,000,000, unlike Isaac Caldiero, who returned 3 seasons after he won.
- Vance was one of six to conquer the semifinals course under a minute in American Ninja Warrior 15.
- Vance is the first (and 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. Daniel Gil and Drew Dreschel are the only ones whom have never done so.
- 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’s also one of six to do so in back-to-back seasons.
- Vance is the fifth to achieve Total Victory twice and the third in back-to-back seasons, after Miyake Ayako and Yogev Malka.
- He is the youngest competitor to achieve Kanzenseiha twice, at 18, beating out Yogev Malka who did so at 23.
- Vance is the first two-time winner of American Ninja Warrior Junior and American Ninja Warrior.
- Vance is the fifth after David Campbell, Joe Morvasky, Drew Drechsel, and Kaden Lebsack to be the Last Ninja Standing twice. He is the fourth after David Campbell, Drew Drechsel, and Kaden Lebsack to do so in back-to-back seasons.
- Vance is the first ninja to have conquered Stage Four but not have a perfect season until his second attempt.
- Vance has the second and the fourth fastest time for a ninja who has conquered Stage Four right behind Isaac Caldiero and Drew Drechsel (in third.)
- Vance is one of two grand champions worldwide (along with Yogev Malka) to have a 100% competition rate on Stage Four after two attempts.
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[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||