Letter From Commissioner Linsay Sumpter

Hey Cowgirls,

Wow, what a whirlwind summer for everyone! There have been so many great events for everyone to compete at and it’s been awesome seeing many of you already nominating and earning points on the 2023 leaderboard.

I would like to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who competed, supported, and watched the best cowgirl athletes on CBS Sports at the 2022 WRWC. I could not be more proud and more excited for the future of the sport of rodeo for women in the industry. What an amazing group of women who competed and a talented group of ladies to represent us as World Champions. Congratulations to you all.

Now, let’s talk about 2023. Over the past few months, we listened to your comments and feedback to make some improvements that will benefit all athletes of the WRWC. Every new season/segment brings new opportunities for us to work out the growing pains of production and format.

We are excited to announce the following changes that we have implemented for the 2023 Women’s Rodeo World Championship.

In barrel racing, we saw a need for fewer back-to-back runs on horses, so the format will no longer have a 12 girl Showdown Round followed by a 3-girl Triple Crown of Rodeo Round. It will simply be all 12 girls running one run in the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round. The roping events will still be a back-to-back format. You can view the new advancement charts HERE.
- WCRA is also applying the new Barrel Racing Showdown/TCR format to their other Triple Crown of Rodeo events.
In Barrel Racing, tractor drags will remain after every 5 runs in each round until we get to the Triple Crown Round where we will tractor drag after every four runs.
We received a lot of feedback in 2022 regarding the advancement and whether athletes advance based on aggregate or fastest times. In order to address this, the advancement from the Semi-Final Round to Showdown Round will now be the top 4 fastest times from the 3 run aggregate and the fastest time from the Semi-Final Round. This applies to all disciplines in both the Pro and Challenger competitions.
The world points scale has been adjusted from a 7X multiplier to a 4X multiplier. Following the event, we evaluated the points scale based on the final results in 2022. We also reviewed the NFR payout in 2021 and the estimated multiplier versus the average earnings to qualify. The NFR ranged from 3.19x – 4.44x. The average multiplier was 3.58x with Barrel Racing at a 4.28x. Based on this research, we learned that a 4x multiplier would level the playing field.
The following leaderboard positions will now be seeded:
- Leaderboard position #1 is seeded into the Showdown Round
- Leaderboard positions #2-4 are seeded into the Semi-Finals Round

For the Qualifier Series Generic Qualifications and Challenger Classifications:

If the highest nominated qualifier series event winner already won a qualification into the WRWC, the next highest nominated cowgirl will be awarded the qualification.
We will continue to do quarterly updates of challengers.

We would like to congratulate those that have already won a Qualifier Series generic qualification and have guaranteed their spot at the 2023 WRWC:

Breakaway Roping Pros: Josie Conner, Fallon Ruffoni, Nicole Baggarley, Rylee George, Jackie Crawford and Kassidy Dennison
Breakaway Roping Challengers: Brylee Braden, Haliegh Grant, Sadie Grant, Jessica Hemphill and Debbie Fabrizio

Barrel Racing Pro: Amber Moore
Barrel Racing Challenger: Stephanie Wilkins

Team Roping Pros: Kenna Francis (HD) Jimmi Jo Montera (HL) Kelsey Russey (HD) Whitney Desalvo (HL) Rylee George (HD) Alison Grantham (HL) Jessica Amicarela (HD) Debbie Fabrizio (HL)
Team Roping Challengers: Sydney Ball (HD) Jessica Johnson (HL) Shanna Perkins (HD) Sally Ball (HL) Dana Aviles (HD) Chelsey Bushnell (HL) Kay Stevens (HD) Heather Jacobson (HL)

For a list of the remaining Qualifier Series events, click HERE

The 2023 WRWC will be held again at the Cowtown Coliseum in conjunction with the PBR World Finals. The third week of May. Stay tuned for more details. The updated ground rules reflecting all the changes above can be found HERE.

To stay connected with all things WRWC don’t forget to download the Women’s Rodeo app in the app store for all qualifier series events details, leaderboard standings, news, and information. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can do so HERE.

I want to personally thank everyone who filled out our survey and a special thank you to the competition committee for all of their help in ensuring the best competition for all contestants. I am happy to visit with anyone about how we can make the largest Women’s Rodeo in the world even better.

Happy Trails,