Austin Baron
Episode 350
13 OCT 2025
He appeared on Season 15 and Season 17 of American Ninja Warrior on NBC, having reached the finals and participated in the bracket of 32 athletes remaining. This year he competed in the Barbados Ninja Throwdown, after last year having competed in the USA National Championships. For two years now he has competed on the Ninja Sport Network in both Season 3 and Season 4. Since 2021 he has competed in the World Ninja League, seasons 7-11, all after having competed in four seasons of the Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association. In elementary school he had played soccer and CYO basketball, and then in high school started participating in ninja warrior competitions. He is currently a student at the University of Notre Dame, where he is regularly running, lifting, bouldering, and top roping on campus. Through it all, he is using his platform to advocate for an end to world hunger.
Notable guest quotes:
“I went from kindergarten to eighth grade to a Catholic school and religion was my favorite subject. I love just learning about my faith, learning about Jesus and His whole story.”
“In fourth grade I started altar serving and I just loved being able to serve the Lord. And then after going to a Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade, I went to a public high school and that’s really when I had to start taking responsibility for my faith and I made a priority of going to Mass, to daily Mass, at least once a week because that was something that was really important to me, because going to daily Mass is such a solid way to grow in your faith.”
“God blessed me with a friend who was thinking about becoming a priest in high school and seeing how much he knew about his faith really encouraged me to learn more about my faith.”
“I really just fell in love with the Ninja Warrior community because even though we’re competing against each other, everyone wants to see each other do the best on the course. They share their tips of how to do the obstacles, and it’s really just a wonderful supportive community.”
“My faith always comes first and I always … make it a priority to go to daily Mass because I want to continue to grow in my relationship with Jesus. And so, I always put my faith first.”
“It definitely does take like a lot of focus, but my faith comes along on the course with me. I keep a miraculous medal with me in my pocket when I run the course because I want to keep Mary close to me. I have a devotion to Mary, and I want to always be reminded of why I’m competing is to glorify God.”
“Feeding the hungry is … a corporal work of mercy that we talk about as Catholics and when I went to meal packing events in my parish when I was younger I just loved packing meals and getting to do (it) with my parish community and going to the meal packing events over the years I eventually learned that a billion people go to bed hungry each night and that the meals that I was packing with my own hands would be the only food for someone else to eat and that really impacted me and instilled a desire to want to help the hungry.”
“It was really beautiful just to see such an intense glow coming from her womb, but to me that was a reminder of Jesus’s light into the world and how we’re all called to share Jesus’s light with other people in the same way that Mary does.”
“God gives us all these gifts and talents, and they’re used best when they’re used to give glory to God and to love other people.”
“What I’ve noticed is that when people see you trying to do something good in the world and help others, they’ll be very supportive of you and God will bless you with your efforts.”
Related link:
Knot Perfect site (American Ninja Warrior content)