New format rumored for American Ninja Warrior 15 in 2023 including ninja vs ninja races side by side in semifinals

American Ninja Warrior looks set to make some changes to the course & race format during the upcoming American Ninja Warrior Season 15 in 2023.

As first shared on the reddit r/anw forum, producers have begun emailing ninjas who were selected to compete on Season 15 of American Ninja Warrior. As part of the selection letter, they are also sharing some news about the course format.

The biggest change relates to the semifinals. In previous years, the semi-finals have featured a 10-obstacle course, and each ninja runs the course by themselves.

For American Ninja Warrior 15, the semifinals will consist of ninjas racing side by side on a 6 obstacle course (which will be different than the course used in qualifiers).

Update – NBC has now confirmed that there will be side by side racing this season.

Two qualifying rounds will be combined into one semi-final. The #1 seed male will race against the #24 seeded male, then the #2 seeded male vs the #23 seeded male, and so one. The women will race against each other using the same placements.

The winners of each semifinal side by side race will move onto the National Finals. In addition, the fastest two non-winners from the semifinals will also advance to the National Finals in Vegas. It was not clear if it’s the two fastest non-winner per semifinal episode, or the two fasted non-winners out of all semifinal episodes, who will move on.

Before ninjas get to the semifinals, they’ll have to take on the qualifying course. This will feature the usual 6 obstacle course, with ninjas running individually. 12 men and 4 women from each qualifying episode will move on to the semi-finals (with each qualifying episode having around 30 competitors).

The change for the qualifying rounds comes with the selection of the final spot. The 12th & 13th place male will race head to head on a 4-obstacle course for who the 12th person is to move on to the semifinals. Similarly, the 4th & 5th place female will race head to head for the 4th qualifying spot for the women.

This same format should also apply to Season 16 of American Ninja Warrior whenever it airs, since they will be taped back to back in the matter of a few weeks.

Filming dates & locations for 2023 were also announced, which you can read more about here.

As always, you can find the latest information about ANW Season 15 here.

You can see the exact language from the producers on the new format below:

Secondly, we are changing up the format this year, including the introduction of side-by-side
racing on ANW.

Qualifying: Similar to past seasons, a 6-obstacle course ending at the Warped Wall, or Mega Wall, which is returning. Each Qualifying episode will have a field of approximately 30. Only the top 12 men, and the top 4 women, will move on to Semifinals. Each episode ends with a 4-obstacle race between the 12″ and 13* place men, and the 4″ and 5″ place women, for the final two spots in Semis.

Semifinals: Will now be side-by-side racing on a brand new 6-obstacle course. We will combine the fields from two Qualifying episodes into one Semifinal, The matchups for these races will be determined by placement on the Qualifying leaderboards. The fastest Qualifier will race against the slowest. #1 vs #24, #2 vs #23, etc. Same with the Women’s leaderboard. Those who win their race, along with the two fastest non-winners, will move on to Vegas and the National Finals.

What do you think of these changes?

Leave a comment