Watching Nick Hanson get THAT close to the buzzer was painful

Nick Hanson is a strong American Ninja Warrior competitor. After all, we did see him not only complete the Los Angeles Qualifiers course, but take down the Mega Wall along with it. He made it to the ninth obstacle in the City Finals to seal his third trip to Las Vegas.

In speaking with Nick, he shared with us that staying calm is one key to his success: “Getting nervous about an obstacle is what makes you fail. Your biggest fear leads to your greatest tragedy. I try to not get really nervous.”

But we were nervous for Nick on Stage One. In season eight, he timed out on the course. In season nine, he hit the buzzer with less than five seconds left.

Since Nick ran earlier in the episode, he gave us a good look at some of the newer obstacles. For example, this overhead view of Archer Alley.

On the Double Dipper, it looked like Nick almost missed the transfer to the second bar. Thank goodness he made it.

He was uneven going into the Jumping Spider and really had to dig deep to save the obstacle.

On Jeep Run, Nick landed perfectly on the top of the final wheel, preventing it from spinning.

Nick can handle an 18 foot wall, so he didn’t lose any time on this one.

We also got a really good look at the Razor Beams during his run.

It seemed like Nick was doing okay on time until the Twist and Fly. When he reached the second set of handles, he only had 20 seconds on the clock.

There, he lost control for a bit and took extra spins. When he transferred to the cargo net, he had a nail-biting 10 seconds to try to make the climb.

Nick threw himself into it and covered a lot of ground. While the whole audience tried to send him more energy through telepathy, the clock hit zero. Nick was devastatingly just a couple feet from the buzzer.

While he was clearly disappointed, it as still a heck of a season for Nick. He’ll have that prize money from the Mega Wall to remember it by.

You’ll get it next season, Nick!