Travis Rosen showed us, ‘when unexpected, horrible circumstances happen, you can still bounce back.’

Travis Rosen’s run at the American Ninja Warrior Atlanta Qualifiers was one that had a LOT of people worried. Although it marked Travis’ 10th season on the course, it was the first time we had seen him since a heart-breaking injury at the National Finals in season 10.

Coming off the Double Dipper on Stage One, Travis slammed into the landing pad feet-first, breaking one of his ankles in multiple places. The injury was so severe, doctors were unsure if he’d ever run again.

While the effects of his injury are still felt, Travis has undergone a stunning recovery. He was cleared to return to Ninja Warrior less than a year later. With his ankle tightly wrapped, his family, and everyone who knew what he was attempting, watched with held breath.

His run was nothing short of movie-worthy. He fell on the feared Block Run, eliciting a few concerned yelps from the audience, but was somehow just fine. After completing the new fifth obstacle, Ferris Wheel, Travis ran up the Warped Wall and hit the buzzer with his injured ankle, solidifying his return to the top.

Before his run started, Travis had a chance to talk with us about how he was feeling both physically and mentally when it was time to return to competition after such a scary accident.

“Obviously last season did not end how I anticipated. I feel like there’s unfinished business even though I’ve been around for so long. I want to communicate to people that when unexpected, horrible circumstances happen, you can still bounce back and give it another go.”

“The healing is going miraculously well. My follow up surgeon, he’s the team doctor for a professional NFL team, he didn’t know if I could jog again. It was that bad. And yet he cleared me to completely go forward in everything.

Structurally, everything is good. I had lots of different breaks. Part of my fibula still is split, will never fill in all the way. But structurally, it’s sound. It hurts a lot. I probably need a follow up procedure just to clean out scar tissue and cartilage. But, he gave me the green light!”

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“I’m getting there, as far as confidence. Whenever you have such a horrendous setback, it can be such a mental obstacle. We do these literal obstacles all the time, but this is definitely a figurative one that I’ve not faced before. To be able to overcome such a bad injury, it’s going to be a big deal.

When tragedy strikes, it doesn’t have to define you.”

“I don’t know exactly what to expect, seeing that we just finally made the call that I was actually going to do this about three weeks ago. I’ve been training, preparing, in case this was route we were going. I want to see how my ankle is during a real competitive moment. I’m quite a competitor so I haven’t gone, probably, at the speed I’m going to go out on the course. So I’m hoping that my ankle holds up. I do feel like there’s unfinished business. I’m 44 now, but yet I still feel like it’s actually, legitimately possible for me to try to conquer this whole course. I want to try to do something I’ve never done before.”

Travis will return for the Atlanta City Finals in a few weeks were we hope he has another successful and safe run.