Meet the crazy new American Ninja Warrior skills challenge: The Striding Steps

The 2017 American Ninja Warrior All-Stars Special introduced a new challenge: The Striding Steps.

Here, Ninja Warriors went for time as they raced out and back over 9 small steps, placed 5.5 feet apart. The two Ninjas with the fastest times would move on to the race for the championship.

Kacy Catanzaro, Jake Murray, Thomas Stillings and Daniel Gil competed.

Daniel took the course first.

He set a strong benchmark time of 13.56 seconds.

Jake Murray gave it his best shot, but when he realized he was falling, he decided to opt for the best show.

Kacy nailed it. Finishing in just over 17 seconds.

Look at Jake Murray’s face as Kacy leapt distances that are longer then her height.

But then Thomas launched himself at the buzzer and beat her time by 1 second.

Daniel and Thomas would battle it out for the championship.

Thomas went for speed, but took a couple tries to actually press the buzzer.

This left room for Daniel, if he was quick! But the speed caught up to him and he lost his footing.

Thomas Stillings is the American Ninja Warrior Striding Steps champion!

You can find a full recap of the skills challenges here.