The Sault’s Sylas Snider made his national television debut last night on the hit show American Ninja Warrior as the Rebel Gym coach gave it his all during an intense semi-final.
Recorded in Los Angeles this past spring, the semis featured head-to-head races with the winner from each matchup advancing to the final in Las Vegas.
Heading into the six-obstacle race, 19-year-old Snider was ranked as the 18th seed of 24 male competitors based on his qualifying finish several weeks before. He would face a tough test against 7th seed Kyle Soderman, who had appeared on the show several times before.
The young gymnast was neck and neck with the 28-year-old from Minnesota up until the second-last obstacle, when Snider fell during the Slingshot stage.
“I was trying to pick up the pace, but because I was trying to go faster, I wasn’t as precise or cautious,” he told SooToday. “I had only done one competition before that was head-to-head, so it was different trying to focus on someone else as well. I knew he was really fast, but I was confident in being able to do all the obstacles, so it ended up being a really close race.”
“The scariest part was the water because it was really cold,” he laughed. “I knew it was going to be cold since I fell in the qualifier, but I was still shocked when it happened.”
After Snider dropped from the course, Soderman rope-climbed his way to the finish and hit the buzzer, eliminating the Superior Heights grad from the show.
Or so he thought.
“They called me saying they wanted me back as an alternate for the finals,” he says. “I was pretty shocked.”
Although he’s not technically considered a finalist, Snider still had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas last May as an alternate.
While Snider isn’t sure if he’ll appear on TV again this year, he’s beyond appreciative to have lived out the dream he's had since he was 10 years old.
“It was super cool,” he says. “Seeing it in person was so different than seeing it on TV — it was wild. Definitely bigger than any other competition that I’ve gone to.”
“I was also just happy to compete in the semis and to make it as far as I did in the semi-final course. I’m definitely hoping to go back again.”
Stage one of the American Ninja Warrior finals will air next Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC.