Canada’s Top Ninja Takes on Best in World at 2024 Championships

A competitor climbs the last wall of the challenge at the "American Ninja Warrior" screening and course demonstration in celebration of the show's first Emmy Award nomination, at Universal Studio, Calif., on Aug. 24, 2016. (Valerie Macon/AFP/via Getty Images)

A Calgary athlete is putting his ninja skills to the test this weekend as he takes on the top amateur ninja athletes in the world.

Lucas Artinian is competing at the World Ninja League, which is a series of ninja-style challenges like obstacle courses, running in North Carolina from June 21–24.

“There’s athletes from all over the world,” he told The Epoch Times in a phone interview. “We have a team of 13 of us that came from Calgary and Edmonton, and we kind of were under the same company.”

He described the experience as surreal.

“It’s so exciting seeing a lot of the people that I would see on American Ninja Warrior, like some of my favourite ninjas that I kind of looked at as celebrities, walking around and I meet them. I’m running the same courses that they are, and it’s pretty surreal. It’s such an amazing experience.”

Mr. Artinian said he got into ninja training after watching the sport on “American Ninja.”

“I played soccer. I played lacrosse, and none of them were really for me,” he said. “I never had a passion for them, but I always loved sport. I just didn’t know what sport I wanted to do. “

Luckily, Mr. Artinian lives in Calgary where there is a fitness centre dedicated to the sport. Fitset Ninja Calgary, where he trains and teaches, has monkey bars, ninja grips, ninja steps, and more.

“Right on their website they had a picture of a warped wall, which is one of the big, famous obstacles in “American Ninja.” It’s like a big, 14-foot wall that you run up,” he explained. “I saw the photo and I said that’s where I’m going tomorrow.”

“Ever since then, I was just hooked on it. I absolutely loved it.”

Similar to other athletes, Mr. Artinian trains and watches what he eats to prepare for competitions, such as the Canadian Ninja League in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, where he won gold in the amateur men’s category.

“I was fortunate enough to come out of there with gold, and that was amazing,” he said.

However, he said that in each competition the obstacle course changes, making it tricky to prepare.

“We prep physically and just to try and face all the unexpected obstacles for every competition they come up with,” he said, adding athletes in the sport work on new moves and preparing for new challenges that people have not seen before.

“There’s rope climbs and monkey bars, a whole bunch of crazy hanging stuff. It’s like a big obstacle course, pretty much. It’s a lot of fun,” Mr. Artinian said.

He said one of the best things about the sport is the camaraderie.

“We’re all individual athletes, but you train together, you work together. Your so-called competition is on the sideline cheering for you and coaching you and trying to give you tips and tricks,” he explained.

“It’s not even like competitors. It’s just like you’re one big family.”