Hey, Utah, the new champion of ‘American Ninja Warrior’ may someday save your life

When St. George part-time firefighter Kai Beckstrand was handed the “American Ninja Warrior” championship trophy, the 19-year-old’s family swarmed him on the winner’s platform.

Three of his relatives also competed this season — and Beckstrand beat his younger brother, Luke, in the quarterfinals. The last four rounds, including Beckstrand’s win in the final that secured him the $250,000 top prize, were taped in Las Vegas and aired Monday night on NBC.

“When I hit the buzzer, it was just a super-surreal feeling,” Beckstrand said in an interview Monday from his family’s gym in St. George. “A very rewarding feeling as well, to see all the work that I put in, all the hours that I spent training and preparing myself for the show, and to see that all pay off in the end. [It was] just super-rewarding, especially being able to celebrate on that stage with the rest of my family and friends.”

In addition to Kai and Luke, their mom, Holly, and their sister, Kaylee, competed this season. The family’s patriarch, Brian, competed in the seventh and eighth seasons of “American Ninja Warrior,” conquering the qualifying rounds to make it to the semifinals both years.

The show — which debuted in 2009 on the now-defunct G4 network and since 2012 has aired on NBC — runs men and women competitors through an obstacle course with a variety of physical challenges. The obstacles typically require competitors to climb, move levers and hang from heights. One slip will end their run.

This season had competitors racing head-to-head in a bracket-style format. Monday’s season finale started with a few races to finish out the round of 32, then showed the top 16 compete, followed by the top eight in the quarterfinals and the final four in the semis, with Beckstrand and competitor Noah Meunier in the final.

For Beckstrand, the toughest race of all was in the quarterfinals — against his brother.

“I trained with him, put in a lot of time in the gym with him, so I knew exactly what he’s capable of doing,” Beckstrand said. “So I didn’t want to slip up or make any mistakes, because I knew he’d be right on my heels that whole race.”

In fact, Beckstrand said, Luke was ahead most of the race. After a slight mistake on the “ring hop” obstacle, Beckstrand beat his brother, but it was close. Luke was the only person who went against Kai on Monday’s show and completed the course.

Beckstrand’s semifinal race, against Isaiah Thomas, was expected to be the match of the night — two favorites facing off. Beckstrand said Thomas’ times on the obstacle course were faster than his, and “I knew it was going to be a close race.”

It didn’t end up that way.

“We both got a little hung up on the ring hop, and it gave us a second to kind of glance at each other, see where we were at,” Beckstrand said. “Then he just made a little mistake on the ‘salmon ladder,’ and ended up in the water.”

Beckstrand only had to complete one more obstacle, and didn’t have to finish the course. (Under the show’s rules, if a racer hits the water, the other racer only has to finish the next obstacle to move forward in the competition.)

In the final, Beckstrand and Meunier were neck-and-neck until the last couple of obstacles. Though Beckstrand’s official time wasn’t posted on the show — because Meunier went into the water on the final obstacle — he appeared to have broken his previous best time of 87.59 seconds.

Beckstrand is unusual among “American Ninja Warrior” competitors, in that he is more muscular — something viewers could see, since Beckstrand raced shirtless in all four of his races on Monday’s episode. The racers Beckstrand defeated, even his brother, are more lean, like rock climbers.

“A lot of people think that having a lot of muscle mass might be a hindrance. When you look at the top elite guys, they’re usually pretty wiry,” Beckstrand said. “I may be 185 pounds, but I’ve been training at 185 pounds for the last four years.”

Beckstrand has gone through the firefighter academy and EMT training and said he hopes to be working full-time with the St. George Fire Department within the next year.

“I don’t think I could see myself working in an office, a desk job,” Beckstrand said, “I’ve definitely got to be [doing] something more active.”

By taking up firefighting, like with “American Ninja Warrior,” Beckstrand is following in his father’s footsteps.

Seeing his dad at work, he said, “inspired me every time we would go and visit him in the fire station, just seeing that bond that he has with his crew.”

Still, he wouldn’t say no to another season of “American Ninja Warrior” — and another chance to hit that buzzer.

“Some people might want to go out on top, but I definitely think I’ve got a little bit more in the tank, and a little bit more to prove,” he said. “I’ll keep coming back to ‘American Ninja Warrior’ as long as they keep calling me back.”