Drew Drechsel has never let Stage One of the National Finals take him down

Drew Drechsel was back on familiar territory in Las Vegas. American Ninja Warrior season 10 is Drew’s seventh year on the show. In that time, he’s only failed to move past the City Finals once. Season Nine saw him go out on the Wingnuts of Stage Two. Although that’s an impressive record for a season, he was disappointed he didn’t go the whole way.

Back for season 10, Drew had his sights set on Stage Four once again. Speaking to us in Miami, Drew told us he was physically ready for everything. He just needed to keep his mind focused.

“I know that I’m strong enough to go the whole way. It doesn’t even matter what obstacle they throw at me. Physically, I’m strong enough to do any of the obstacles. Whether I am able to maintain my mental composure so I don’t make any mistakes, I don’t freak out and grab the wrong thing, just making sure that everything comes together. That’s the hard part.”

Drew took first place in the Miami Qualifiers and fell on the ninth obstacle, Stair Hopper, in City Finals. We were holding our breath when he started Stage One of the National Finals. We’d seen so many shocking falls we didn’t know what to expect, no matter who was on the course.

26 Ninjas fell on the Double Dipper. We’ll admit we had our eyes closed for this part.

Drew landed it and ran right into the Jumping Spider without hesitation.

He was seamless through Jeep Run.

At the top of the Warped Wall, Drew was WELL on pace to take the fastest time previously set by Mathis Owhadi.

He left himself almost a minute to finish the cargo net climb.

Drew had never failed to hit a buzzer on Stage One in Las Vegas. That was no different tonight.

We definitely let out a sigh of relief that he was safely through to Stage Two.

Drew will continue his quest to get to Stage Four on Monday, September 10 at 8/7c on NBC!