Unfortunately, Padua had a tough time with the written test and didn’t earn enough points to advance to the finals, which were broadcasted live on ESPN.
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Nihar is the first first-time victor since 2000, and youngest victor in 14 years to win the Bee. He is the youngest champion since 2002.
The winning words were Feldenkrais – a physical education system – for Hathwar and gesellschaft – a type of social association – for Janga. “When I missed those two words, I didn’t let them get to my head, and I just focused on the next word”.
This year, Kumar improved after finishing in 4th place last year.
Jairam created an opening for Nihar when he stumbled on “draathaar”, a king of dog, wincing when he realized his mistake. “This was such an inspiration”, Jairam said, adding that if he had not won the Spelling Bee he would not have been on this stage.
Nihar Saireddy Janga, 11, left, and Jairam Jagadeesh Hathwar, 13, hold the trophy as they celebrate being named the co-champions of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Md., Thursday, May 26, 2016.
Jairam attributed his success to his brother Sriram, who was 2014 co-champion.
During his victory pose, Janga crossed his arms in an homage to football player Dez Bryant’s signature touchdown move.
Nihar was in his first bee and would have had three more years of eligibility, but he can’t compete again since he won. A few minutes later, in Round 9, he misspelled “Wehrmacht” – which referred to the unified forces of Nazi Germany – and was eliminated from the competition.
One of the biggest cheers of the night came when Nihar successfully spelled “taoiseach”.
When both boys realized the tie, confetti poured down on them and they were overwhelmed with congratulations from family members. Jairam, on the other hand, wants to go to Harvard to study medicine so he could become a physician.
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Last year, Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were declared co-champions. I can’t say anything.
