The eighth season of Ninja Warrior Germany is entering the decisive phase. The best of the best compete in Germany’s strongest show on the course. sport.de looks back on the first semi-final.
Around 250 athletes aged 16 and over took part in Ninja Warrior Germany this year, and only the strongest were able to secure a place in the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, speed is particularly important. Third place gets 2,500 euros, second place gets 5,000 euros and first place gets 10,000 euros.
The six preliminary round winners are already secure in the final. In addition, the best 30 athletes from the two semi-final shows qualify. At least two participants will definitely make it to the final round.
Tough course in the semi-finals
The course demanded everything from the ninjas in the first semi-final. Only two athletes made it to the buzzer: Daniel Gerber and Jona Schöne. The former set the best time of the evening (2:49.87). Schöne (3:23.97) was right behind.
“I thought, boy, how slow can you be?” Gerber admitted on the RTL microphone that he found it difficult to assess his performance on the course. According to the 27-year-old, he was “lost to the max” at the new water obstacle.
Unlike Gerber and Schöne, the rest of the others fought their hardest on the course. For a total of 22 ninjas it was time for work at the vaulting bar 2.0 – including David Eilenstein and Leon Wismann.
Christian Kirstges, Milan Armengaud, Moritz Hans, Joel Mattli, Yasin El Azzazy, Paul Stöckel and Giovanni Ertl made it to the pegboards.
The semi-final course was “definitely an improvement over the last few years,” said Hans, describing the challenge. Like his fellow competitors, the 27-year-old still has to wait for the second semi-final to find out whether he has enough to reach the final.
Alina Tornau best woman of the evening
The best woman of the evening was Alina Tornau, who made it to the first final position of the vaulting bar 2.0 in a time of 1 minute and 55.59 seconds.
Behind her was Katharina Blank (jumping bar 2.0, 1st final position/02:12.34), who also still has a chance of making the final.
Strong athletes will also be taking to the course next week. What is certain is that nothing is certain at the moment.
The obstacles in the course
In both semi-finals you first go over the chaos cones to the wall jump. Afterwards, the ladder to heaven and the jumping pole 2.0 await the ninjas. After the vortex boards, the water walls wait.