Records were set and history was made on almost every single day of the event.

The World Ninja League has just come off of its Season IX Tier 1 Championships, and so many amazing memories were made! With a record-breaking 2,300 athletes in attendance in addition to our hardworking staff and dedicated community members, this was the biggest event in our sport to date. 

The event, sponsored by DGS, NinjaWorks, and Series One, saw over 3,000 buzzers hit across all three Stages and throughout our Discipline Circuit. In the end, 16 very deserving athletes were crowned World Champion. Read on below for some of the highlights from Worlds Weekend!

The Two-Title Champions!

While World Champion is the title all of our athletes battle it out for, there was an elite group of athletes who managed to win both World Champion and Strongest Ninja at the same time! Those athletes included Jackson Erdos (Elite Male), Ariana Merchant (Kids Female), Levi Meeks (Preteen Male), Nathanael Honvou (Teen Male), and Daniella Blanchard (Adult Female). 

With these wins, Erdos locks in his third World Champion title. After strong showings in the Premier Series last season, Blanchard and Honvou cemented their names in the WNL history books with their wins. Blanchard fought off a record-breaking number of buzzers in the Adult Female division to secure her win. Merchant, who began competing in Tier 2 last year, showed incredible progress in the sport, pushing into Stage 3 and clenching her first title. Meeks got the full clear on Stage 3 against the uber-competitive Preteen Male division before winning World Champion. 

While not winning Strongest Ninja, it’s also worth noting that Adult Male competitor Henry Katrek took home the World Champion title for the second year in a row, making him one of the league’s few back-to-back champions! This accomplishment (and second title) is one that earns him a spot in our multi-title category. Congratulations to all of these athletes!

The Brown-Johns Bring Two Wins Home!

Canada’s Nora Brown-John was a favorite to win the Elite Female division, so it was no surprise when exactly that happened. Nora pushed back against heavy-hitters such as Isabella Wakeham, Addy Herman, and Abby Clark and advanced all the way to the final obstacle of Stage 3 – becoming the only athlete in her division to reach that point. 

Meanwhile, in the Masters Female division, Nora’s mother, Sharon Brown-John, also advanced to Stage 3! While the seventh obstacle, Good Luck, got the best of her, she was 9 seconds faster to that point than runner-up Tammie Randall. With Sharon also claiming the title of World Champion, she and Nora become the first mother-daughter duo to win World Champion! Congratulations to them.

Buzzer Records Are Absolutely SMASHED!

Naturally, many more athletes than just our World Champions saw large amounts of success. In fact, for the first time in WNL history, every division went to Stage 3 before a World Champion was determined! This was largely in part because of the amazing contingent of athletes, combined with a great course by Jordan Thurston, Greg Smith, and Matt Bradley.

A record number of buzzers were hit in the Masters Male, Teen Female, Young Adult Female, Elite Female, Masters Female, and Adult Female divisions! Joining Blanchard and the Brown–Johns as World Champions are Adelena Messier (Teen Female), Sam Leahy (Young Adult Female), and Timothy Lazzarevich (Masters Male). All 3 of these powerhouse athletes also placed top 10 in the Strongest Ninja bracket!

The Young Adult Male Division also saw a large number of clears on all Stages, including a very healthy number of competitors advancing to Stage 3. There, Chase Hughes beat out Ryan Cooper to the eighth obstacle, granting Hughes the title of World Champion. 

The wins of these athletes in such stacked fields are just a testament to how much the athletes are evolving. These titles could have gone to dozens of talented and fierce competitors, and we applaud each and every one of them for taking part in our history-making event in the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Youth Divisions Went IN!

On the smaller rigs, our younger athletes proved that big things come in small packages. The Kids Male division was a 3-Stage battle between Brayden Powers, Jace Black, and Nolan Augustyn. In the end, it was Black who got the full clear on Stage 3 and the title of World Champion. Meanwhile, Ethan Poe delivered the only Stage 3 clear in the Mature Kids Male division, crowning him World Champion as well!

The Mature Kids Female and Preteen Female divisions didn’t see Stage 3 clears, but still delivered us some of the closest calls of the weekend in a nail-biting series of runs. First, Gabrielle Licata became the only athlete in her division to advance to the final obstacle, guaranteeing herself the World Champion win. However, the Preteen Female division saw a staggering 5 athletes advance to the final obstacle of Stage 3, meaning it would come down to time. At the end of the day, the World Champion was none other than Lola Roukous, who cleared Good Luck just 5 seconds ahead of runner-up Malone Canter. 

With the World Championships over for this season, we look both back on the outstanding achievements by all of our athletes…and forward on to our Premier Series beginning in July! Once again, thank you to our partners, staff, and joyous community for making this World Championships one to remember! Whether you were World Champion, on the podium, or got a buzzer in general, every athlete should be incredibly proud of themselves for stepping up to the starting platform and sending it!

For full results of the World Championship, you can view our website. You may also view our YouTube channel for live streams of all Stages for all divisions!