BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
Kolby Wanchuk’s $139,743 earnings in 2024 mark his best regular season total to date. The only other time he surpassed $130,000 was in 2022, when he finished eighth in the PRCA World Standings with $211,633.
Now, Wanchuk is back at the National Finals after narrowly missing out on a third consecutive appearance in 2023. That year, he earned $116,754 and ended the season ranked 17th in the World.
Brad Gjermundson Extreme Broncs, $6,926
All the way back in October of 2023, Wanchuk started his season off on the right foot after a No. 17 finish the previous season. At an event that can propel a cowboy forward like no other before the calendar turns, Wanchuk won a check on two of his three rides and finished fourth in the Average, which paid $4,550. His 251 points on three were behind Brody Cress, Qwint Stroh, and Wyatt Casper.
National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, $12,040
Of his four rides in Denver, three of them were marked 87 points or more for Wanchuk. That included an 88-pointer on Cervi Championship’s Blood Angel in the Finals to take second, which amounted to $4,196 of his money earned there. In total, he won three checks of $2,900 or more.
Hamel Rodeo & Bull Riding Bonanza, $5,330
The Canadian cowboy felt right at home in Minnesota when he won one of the state’s few PRCA rodeos with 87.5 points on J Bar J’s Soul Lunatic, a horse he would ride two weeks later for 89.5 and the win at the Central Montana PRCA Rodeo.
The Calgary Stampede, $10,650
The Alberta native got off to a roaring start at The Stampede by winning the first two rounds of Pool B with rides of 87.5 and 88 points, which won him nearly $10,000 toward the PRCA World Standings. With an 86-point ride on Championship Sunday, Wanchuk missed out on the Four-Man Finals by a half-point.
Cheyenne Frontier Days, $8,499
Wanchuk didn’t win the rodeo, but he perhaps rode the best start to finish in rodeo’s classic event. He was 88, 90 and 88.5 points on his three outs, resulting in a third place finish for the latter in the Finals. He finished Top 3 in all three rounds he competed.
Douglas County Fair and Rodeo, $6,232
As part of a big weekend to start August, Wanchuk rode Summit Pro Rodeo’s Cat Walk for 91 points, his highest marked ride of the season to get his first career win in Colorado.
That same weekend, he also won the Richland County Fair and Rodeo in Montana with 87.5 points. Overall, Wanchuk moved up three spots from No. 13 to No. 10 in the first week of August.
Cinch Playoffs Puyallup, $6,500
After three straight rides of either 83 or 83.5 points, Wanchuk rode Tokyo Bubbles for 88 in the Finals to earn all of his money in Puyallup in one big check. Ryder Wright and Lefty Holman tied at 89 to split the win.
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