Kacy Catanzaro:
I'm choosing to start the list with Catanzaro's run because quite frankly, everyone has heard of this one already. I'm not going to give her credit for being the first woman to scale the warped wall, because if the show would have come to her town last, she would have been the third to do it, behind Michelle Warnky and Meagan Martin. I'm more impressed by her size. Being small did help her on the arm-based obstacles, but at 5'0", climbing that wall is a huge feat and is worth mentioning. And the fact that she made it to mount midoriama really raised the standards for future female competitors.
Watch her run in the finals here:
Flip Rodriguez:
Flip Rodriguez and Drew Dreschel have had a friendly rivalry for years. In season 4 Flip completed the qualifying and final rounds with the fastest times and Dreschel got second on both. The next year Dreschel got the best times and Flip got second.
This along with a disappointing fall last year, meant it was Flips year to prove something. In a disappointing turn of events, Flip miscalculated how high he was above the water and that was the end of his ANW year.
Watch his run here:
Kevin Bull:
Cannonball Alley was a new obstacle with an elimination rate of 100%, taking out 14 competitors before him. It was proving to be the most difficult obstacle this competition had ever seen.
Just when it seemed that this course was unbeatable, Kevin Bull, a walk on from this year, used his brains instead if just strength, using his legs on a primarily arm-based obstacle.
Watch his incredible and innovative run here:
Joe Moravsky:
Also known as the Weatherman, Joe Moravsky, on only his second year, has become one of the favorites of American Ninja Warrior. If he wasn't in your favorites before, wait until you see this run, where Moravsky breaks the rumbling dice, makes an incredible early dismount, and still dominates the course by beating the fastest time by over 40 seconds.
Watch his run here:
Drew Dreschel:
After proving himself faster than his rival Flip Rodriguez for two years in a row, veteran Drew Dreschel was beginning to become more and more confident. Drew went so far as to call that his run would be between 1 min 30 sec and 1 min 45 sec, with the fastest time before him being 4 min 15 sec.
With his eye on the prize, Dreschel couldn't quite focus on the course right in front of him and missed a crucial grab only ten seconds into his run.
Watch this devastating moment here:
Jon Stewart:
At 52 years old, Jon Stewart had become the second oldest man to reach the final round. Unfortunately, though he qualified, he had never conquered the warped wall.
After two tries, it seemed like he was about to repeat the past. But he shattered the age barrier and reached the top on his final try.
The rest of his run is absolutely incredible. Watch it right here:
USA vs the World
As great as the season was, many of the greatest moments happened during the second annual international competition.
The night started off strong with Joe Moravsky clocking in the fastest stage one run of all time, beating Brent Steffenson's run of 1:14 by 2 seconds. The victory was short lived when ANW veteran now playing for Europe, Tim Sheiff completed the same course ten seconds faster just minutes later.
Stage two was proving difficult for those who attempted, but three runs stood out. One was Brian Arnold, who, after a record breaking season five, slipped up on stage two on season six, taking away his chance at stage three which he had trained so hard for. This time however, he managed to take out his nemesis the unstable bridge, complete enough of the course to earn points for his team, and still finish the course.
Another was Travis Rosen, who was able to prove age was just a number when the 40 year old defeated the metal swing which took him out in season six and the first international competition. Travis then completed the course with a time that would have qualified during a regular season competition.
Last was Sean McColl. As a member of the European team, McColl had never competed on any ninja warrior obstacle and had to learn on stage two. McColl had an impressive run, heroically diving from the metal swing and finishing with an impressive time.
Stage 3 was full of surprises. First was when Japanese competitor Yusuke Morimoto becomes the first competitor to ever complete stage three on American soil. Unfortunately for Japan, European Stefen Ghisolfi soon became the second, and with a faster time, knocking them out of the running to take first place. Unbelievably, a second Japanese competitor, Ryo Matachi, added his name to the list of stage three finishers.
Team Europe was now in a great position, for Team USA to be victorious, they needed to do what they never had done before and complete stage three in under about five minutes, but if the round was taken by either of the other two teams, then Europe would take the gold. It was down to USA record holder Brian Arnold, and one of the top rock climbers in the world, Sean McColl.
Just before Sean began, Arnold looked at the camera and rather nervously said "He's a world cup climber, he's one of the guy's that I watch for inspiration." But as promising as his run was, McColl slipped up on the last obstacle and fell almost exactly where Arnold had fallen a year before.
Now, with his country relying on him, Arnold had to beat his current record and do something that had never been done by an American. The last few great moments can be seen below:
What were your favorite moments of this season? Let me know in a comment, on facebook at Facebook.com/freewayparade or on twitter
