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We’ll just say it: Meagan Martin is American Ninja Warrior royalty. Her runs have the ability to inspire new, young competitors every time she approaches the course.
Meagan is also well aware of what it takes to make it on the course and the show. She’s had stellar seasons, set records, and gone home early. In season 11, she was unable to make the National Finals. That might actually have been a blessing since she needed time to fully rehab an injury.
Back for season 12, Meagan was testing the waters. She was coming off rehabilitation, as well as quarantine, which had changed her training tactics. On the course, she looked good, steady and strong through the obstacles. It was one tiny error on the fifth obstacle, Sideways, that ended her run. However, Meagan still has a chance for a buzzer. She’s made it into the Semi-Finals by placing third on the women’s leaderboard.
Read on for Meagan’s thoughts on returning for season 12. And enjoy the spontaneous interruption by fellow Ninja Jeri D’Aurelio.
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“I was really excited to be out here. Happy to be healthy! Definitely would have liked more obstacle specific training in this. This course was a little stressful. I knew I needed to move quickly and that kind of made me rush it a bit at the end, which was a mistake. It’s always hard when you can’t execute exactly how you want,” Meagan shared.
“I also have never had to push it that fast on a course. Usually, that’s not the case and you can kind of take your time. Knowing what everyone else had done, I knew I had to keep going. That was new for me. It was going great until I just didn’t get all the way around on one of the Sideways things. My back hand didn’t get all the way over. A minor mistake, but that’s why it flipped.”
Jeri crashed the interview at this point. Jeri was bumped off the leaderboard by Meagan’s run. Meagan had known that she’d need to bump Jeri to advance, but the best friends were much more interested in discussing techniques rather than dwelling on placements. Both fell at the same point on the course, but they were excited to celebrate the bright moments.
“We both nailed the balance!” Meagan laughed. “I wouldn’t think of us as being balance goddesses, but I think we’re actually really good at balance. This is Jeri. One of my best friends. We did the same thing!”
“THE SAME THING!” Jeri echoed. “It’s okay. It happens.”
“I do still have life in this season, so I’m going to CALM DOWN and stop being so stressed. My mind gets to me sometimes. I’m going to try to relax a little bit.”
We’ll see Meagan’s next run when she returns for the Semi-Finals, which kick off next week!