The four-time Olympian, who now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, successfully passed the “Pole Vault” obstacle, but fell short on the second obstacle, dubbed “Reel to Reel.” The episode Mazdzer took part in was filmed in Los Angeles, California in March 2023.

“So I had to wait 16 months to see myself fall,” Mazdzer said Wednesday. “I had no idea what it was going to look like or be like.”

The obstacle he fell on requires a competitor to hold onto a cylinder with ledges on both sides, while riding it down a track. The competitor then must let go before transferring to a second cylinder attached to a pendulum and then dismount to the landing platform.

Competitors on the show have no idea which obstacles they’ll be taking on prior to their run, according to Mazdzer. They do have the option to watch other people attempt the run, but it didn’t really help out with “Reel to Reel,” which he described as a blind take-off.

“You’re going down this zip line thing and you can’t see where you need to let go,” he said. “You hit the end and you’re like ‘crap,’ because you weren’t expecting that.”

Mazdzer wasn’t the only competitor who fell. Of the 70 people who took part in the course, only three were able to complete the entire run.

“They actually changed that obstacle for the next night,” he said. “Initially, they were going to keep it, but so many people failed on that obstacle that they changed it for the next night.”

When Mazdzer found out that he would be competing on American Ninja Warrior, he was still competing for USA Luge — Mazdzer retired from USA Luge on Dec. 9, 2023. When he got the call, he had to quickly change his mindset and training routine to a completely different sport in about six weeks.

“I was fortunate there is a ninja gym where a lot of guys that make it to the finals every year train out of,” he said. “So that was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole experience, was finding a new group of people to connect with and train with and learn about a different sport at a really high level.”

During the run, Mazdzer wore his luge racing suit from the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. He originally planned on wearing a different shirt, but after his family’s flight was delayed and they couldn’t make it the course in time, he opted to just wear his suit.

“It was sort of this last minute thing,” he said. “I was actually coming from an event on the east coast and I just happened to have my suit on me, so the decision was kind of made for me. I didn’t have the shirt I was planning to run in, so I was like ‘Alright, I guess I’m doing this course in my luge suit.'”

Mazdzer also brought out — and laid down on — his luge sled, which he had on his flight coming back from the east coast, both before and after his attempt. When Mazdzer fell in the water, his training partners brought out his sled.

“So I fell in the water and whoever the directors were, were like ‘Hey, bring the sled over to him,'” Mazdzer said. “That’s what they did. Everything is just happening in the moment, so you just go with the flow.”

In attendance were Mazdzer’s three training partners, all of whom competed on “American Ninja Warrior” and are from Utah. His wife Mara, son Nico, his parents Ed Mazdzer and Marty Lawthers, both of Saranac Lake, and former USA Luge teammates Tucker West and Raychel Germaine, were all shown on TV through a video call.

“I don’t even know what time it was for them,” Mazdzer said. “It was probably one in the morning, but they got up and they were watching.”

While Mazdzer wasn’t thrilled with his own performance, he was happy with how NBC portrayed him.

“They could’ve done that in so many different ways,” he said. “I don’t have any creative insight into it. I was very happy that luge got onto the national stage for a solid minute and a half.”

Mazdzer became the fifth USA Luge athlete to have competed on “American Ninja Warrior” since its inception in 2009. The previous USA Luge athletes include Olympians Preston Griffall, Andrew Sherk, Emily Sweeney and Kate Hansen.

The show “American Ninja Warrior” is in its 16th season. The episode featuring Mazdzer will be on this season’s fourth episode and can be viewed on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. His full run can also be viewed on Youtube at https://tinyurl.com/2tfw47fm.

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An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Mazdzer was the fourth USA Luge athlete to compete in American Ninja Warrior.

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