Meagan Martin had us nervous, but she’ll be back for the City Finals

The start to Meagan Martin’s sixth season on American Ninja Warrior was a bit of a nail-biter. She put up a strong run to the fifth obstacle, the Lightning Bolts, but the competition was stiff in the Seattle/Tacoma region. Meagan needed to wait until almost the end of the episode to find out if she was fast enough to advance. When Megan Rowe took a little extra time between obstacles, and then was unable to complete the Lightning Bolts, Meagan Martin could breath a sigh of relief. She moved into the City Finals in the fifth overall position for women.

Meagan is no stranger to the ups and downs of competition. Aside from her time on American Ninja Warrior, she’s an accomplished rock climber. It’s the pursuit of goals that keeps her compelled to come back year after year.

Meagan gave us some honest insight on what she wants out of this season before she took to the course.

“For me, I always want to come back because there are things I want to do that I haven’t done. Starting with completing a City Final, then Stage One, Stage Two, Stage Three. Honestly, I don’t like rope climbs, I’d be happy just completing Stage Three. But I guess if I got to the rope, I’d want to complete it. But at the same time, I honestly really hate rope climbs. Everything else is fun. The obstacles are fun. But a rope climb? Ugh. It’s just painful.”

Matthew Hayward/NBC

“I love that people think that I am strong and brave and they’re inspired by me. But I definitely have fears too. Every time I compete, I’m kind of terrified just because, for me, I’m very competitive with myself and I always want to do my best. The fear of not doing my best is sometimes overwhelming. I’m usually able to push through it, but it is kind of a big thing.

I feel like sometimes people think they can’t do what we’re doing. I think they can and I think that we’re more like you than you know.”

“I think processing failure is hard. I think it’s necessary for progression, but, especially as an athlete, when you fail it’s so personal and it kind of nags at you for a long time. I think you just hope to not make mistakes again. But it’s inevitable to make mistakes. I was listening to a podcast the other day, and the guest on the show was talking about just in general, in how much of life, there’s luck. Yes, we train for this. Yes, we’re prepared for this. But at the same time, the amazing things that happen, that’s a bit of luck. Sometimes you just have an unlucky moment. You kind of just have to get over it and get back at it and get back to working and hope that the odds are in your favor the next time.”

Matthew Hayward/NBC

“My expectations for the season would be to first, complete the Qualifiers, and then the City Finals. Make it to Vegas and get through Stage One. Getting through Stage One would definitely make me happy. Stage One is something I’ve been trying to get through for awhile now. That, I would be so happy if I was able to. Just a better season than last year. I think that’s always the goal. To do better than you did the year before.”

The Qualifiers buzzer has come and gone. Now Meagan can set her sights on finishing the City Finals course when she returns to American Ninja Warrior in a few weeks.