At the age of 18, Max Görner was the youngest starter in the last season of Ninja Warrior Germany and made it straight into the final. The bouldering specialist was promptly invited to the second “Allstars” season and can be seen on Easter Sunday in the first preliminary round in a duel against Jean Arisa (8:15 p.m. on RTL, RTL+ and im sport.de live ticker).
Before his performance, he reveals in an exclusive sport.de interview why he still has a lot of experience in ninja sport at his young age and how much he likes being asked about his age. He also looks at the starting Allstars relay, his preparation and the conflicts that the direct duel in the doubles course has in store for him.
Is it true that you have been a NWG fan for many years?
Max Görner: Yes, I’ve been following Ninja Warrior on TV since season one. I was immediately drawn to it because it’s a dynamic sport. There is always something new, which I find fascinating. I actually wanted to try it out right away and I used to love to hang around on the climbing frame. I’ve been doing the sport myself since 2017, when a ninja hall opened nearby.
You come from climbing and have been very active in the ninja field for years. Which sport would you choose if you could only practice one?
That’s a really tough question, but by now I’d say ninja. I like the dynamics, but also all the trappings: all the competitions, but also the show. Of course there are also competitions in bouldering, but the atmosphere there is completely different.
At Ninja it’s just a big family and everyone supports everyone else. You also know almost all ninjas in Germany. When it comes to bouldering, the community is much larger, so you don’t have any contact with any athletes from northern Germany, for example.
That sounds like a great passion for the sport.
Yes, it’s almost a profession. You build obstacles, you invest a lot of time, you drive in halls. A lot of time goes into that. I would say on average I train alone 3 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. But I also go to a ninja gym at the weekend and train there all day.
You were picked straight away in Season 6 last year when you were eligible at 18. did you expect that
I’ve always believed in it. Somehow I was always optimistic that I would be accepted because I built a course in my garden and put a lot of effort into the application. I sent three videos demonstrating different ninja skills.
How does your garden look like?
There is a 2.5×5 meter wooden scaffolding. I attached poles to the top so that I can hang obstacles there – like rings or poles. I also added a ladder to heaven and many other obstacles. But the ladder to heaven is probably the obstacle I train the most.
What was it like for you when you first came on set?
I was amazed for five minutes. There is so much going on, there are so many people. It smells like on the movie set. And the dimensions were not clear to me beforehand. The scaffolding is huge and so are the distances between the obstacles. Everything is bigger than it looks on TV.
were you excited
I was amazed at how huge everything is. But I wasn’t really excited – rather fascinated.
Did you feel pressure because some ninjas already knew you from competitions?
I’m sure some knew me by sight, but I didn’t know many people personally. 2018 my first competition in the ninja hall, there were already many top people from the show. They’ve probably seen me there, but they certainly didn’t really expect me to be on the show. I wasn’t under any pressure, I think most athletes underestimated me.
What happened between your debut and the Allstars season – apart from getting a lot of new followers? Do you get spoken to often?
I got a lot of messages on Instagram, and a lot of people congratulated me. But not much has changed in real life. Sure, my friends know about it, but I’m only spoken to sometimes in the bouldering hall.
How did your friends react?
They were blown away too. You didn’t expect me to get this far. But it’s something like that, especially with friends: you spend a lot of time training that you can’t spend with your friends. At least they saw that the time was well invested.
The first season went great for you. What were you planning to do for yourself?
I wanted to buzz in the preliminary round and get through the obstacles as safely as possible. I didn’t even look at the best times, that would have been far too much of a risk for me. I wanted to get a feel for it and gain initial experience on the show.
Risk is a good keyword when you look at the Allstars relay. How do you find the balance between speed and safety when someone is running next to you in a direct duel?
Of course, it always depends on which opponent you have – how strong he is and what he risks himself. You can estimate that a bit in advance. But I never really risk anything that I can’t control. I actually always want to go the safe route, but that’s not always possible with Allstars.
How did you do that when testing: get routine or fall into the water three times trying to connect everything?
I didn’t want to get wet while testing, which I managed to do. I don’t know if that’s the point of testing, but it’s good for the head. What I can only just manage there, I will definitely not be able to do in the run. That’s why I checked during testing how many turns I needed for an obstacle and what the best solution for the run was.
When did you find out who you were up against?
When we got to the set, there were already cards with pictures of the athletes on a pin board. The duels of the first round were already hanging out.
Have you ever competed in a doubles course before Allstars?
I targeted this for Allstars at Super Mario [Christian Balkheimer, d Red.] trained. He had set up a stage in his hall where you could start against each other. I was able to compete against top athletes. It’s appealing because you have to give it your all. You can’t give yourself a break, but you have to stay really focused so that you don’t make any mistakes. As soon as you swing once more, the opponent is already one obstacle further.
What goes through your mind when you see that your opponent is in front of you?
Actually, I’m relatively easygoing, but of course you always have to keep at it. I think you will see that in many duels with Allstars too, that the lead changes, someone catches up and the duels are just so exciting. You can always do it, even if the opponent is already far away.
I think you should always follow through with the tactics that you have decided on beforehand. There is no point in changing your mind at the last moment and risking something unnecessarily. Then you just fly in.
What was your goal when you went into the relay?
I just wanted to be as quick as possible in the first duel. My goal was to win that and buzz. But that’s all I had in mind at first.
Did you even expect to be invited to Allstars?
I assumed that I would be accepted. I’ve been told by a lot of other athletes that if you get to the second stage of the finals in the first year, you’re pretty much in for it. I was certainly a bit convincing, because I was the youngest starter.
Honestly, how often do you have to be told that you look pretty young?
Oh, I just got used to it. I just developed relatively late and probably still don’t look like 18. But that doesn’t bother me, it’s more annoying in everyday life than in sports. I’m often mistaken for younger, but that can also have its advantages.
The conversation was conducted by Maike Falkenberg