American Ninja Warrior Season 14 Episode 1: 17-year-old Christopher Harding Jones becomes the first finisher of the season to clear qualifiers

Tonight on American Ninja Warrior, 17-year-old Christopher Harding Jones became the night's first contestant to clear the qualifiers. Christopher, who has sensory processing issues, earned all six obstacles quickly and pressed the buzzer to reach the semi-finals.

The American Ninja Warrior qualifier revealed that he was the last student to be picked for anything related to sports or PE in school. His father built him his obstacle course in the home. When he was young, his father was diagnosed with lung cancer. He confessed that his dad never smoked and said

"It didn’t feel fair."

His father passed away four years after the diagnosis. His mother and some training partners, who called him tropher, cheered him on as he crossed the obstacles. His mom said,

"He is the epitome of living wide."

He was wearing a T-shirt saying the same. After crossing the challenges, he said that his father looked over him even after his death and hugged his mother.

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American Ninja Warrior fans react as Christopher Harding Jones becomes the first contestant to clear the qualifiers

American Ninja Warrior fans were impressed by the teenager and felt emotional over his journey. They flooded Twitter with tweets in his support and congratulated him on the win.

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What happened tonight on American Ninja Warrior?

Tonight at the season premiere of American Ninja Warrior, fans witnessed many athletes from all across the USA participating on the first night of the qualifier round. In total, there will be five qualifiers for the season.

Four new obstacles were introduced in the qualifiers: Rollercoaster, Carnival, Serpent, and Salmon Wall.

22-year-old David Wright became the first contestant of the night. He quickly cleared the shrinking steps and rollercoaster challenge. He chose to go over the serpent in the split decision but couldn’t cross it and failed. He said that he would return next year.

Since the age requirement of the show has now been reduced to 15, Lilah Nathison also competed in the show. 15-year-old Lilah has ADHD and is known as a Grizzly bear. She crossed every obstacle till the time of the split decision. She chose the domino challenge but could not clear it.

The young teen did not get disappointed and said:

"I looked good."

Rafael couldn’t even clear the first round. Brad Giles cleared four games but couldn’t cross the fifth challenge.

Jeff Loftus was heavily cheered by his peers and team called 'The Loonies.' He crossed the shrinking steps challenge and rollercoaster obstacle. He chose the dominos challenge in the split decision and even crossed that round. Unfortunately, he couldn’t clear the salmon wall obstacle and failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

North Carolina native Mark tried to cross over the serpent but couldn’t cross the obstacle. His daughter Megan, a music teacher, also failed in the same split decision round by choosing dominos over the snake. Josh Wagg also was unable to clear the obstacles.

The episode description reads:

"The new season begins with the qualifying rounds in San Antonio with ninjas from across the country taking on the world’s most challenging obstacle course."

American Ninja Warrior features some of the most rigorous athletes in the USA who compete against each other by attempting to cross the world's toughest obstacle race. Season 14 of the show is hosted by Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, with Zuri Hall as the sideline reporter.

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American Ninja Warrior will air on NBC every Monday at 8.00 pm ET.