FORT WORTH, Texas – Ahead of the 2024 Women’s Rodeo World Championship (WRWC), the athletes advancing directly to the Showdown Round on May 16 in Fort Worth, Texas, at Cowtown Coliseum, and Championship Round on May 18 at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington, courtesy of their No. 1 standing on the 2024 leaderboard were today announced.

The WRWC is the largest event purse in the history of women’s rodeo. The event will crown World Champions in both the pro and challenger classifications in the following disciplines: team roping (heading and heeling), breakaway roping, and barrel racing.

The first four days of the 2024 Women’s Rodeo World Championship will be held inside the historic Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth from May 13-16, with the Championship Round to be held on May 18 inside the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The Championship Round, taking place alongside the 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship, will crown a WRWC event champion in each discipline, with the victor’s earning the lion’s share of the historic $750,000 purse.

Qualifying rounds of competition will be held May 13-16 inside Cowtown Coliseum. The Top 12 in each roping event (Team Roping and Breakaway Roping) will advance to the May 16 Showdown Round to meet the leaderboard No. 1 athlete. The Top 3 from the Showdown Round will then progress to the Championship Round at AT&T Stadium to duke it out for the $60,000 prize.

Barrel racers will be exempt from the Showdown Round, and 12 athletes will advance directly to the Championship Round. The detailed advancement and event schedule can be found here.

Those athletes that earned an automatic berth to the Showdown Round and Championship Round are:

Team Roping Pro: Kayelen Helton (Header | Stephenville, Texas) and Jimmi Jo Montera (Heeler | Greeley, Colorado)

Team Roping Challenger: Sydney Ball (Header | Max Meadows, Virginia) and Kennlee Tate (Heeler | Shallow Water, Texas)

Barrel Racing Pro: Ryann Pedone (Sunset, Texas)

Barrel Racing Challenger: Fallon Forbes (O’Donnell, Texas)

Breakaway Roping Pro: Martha Angelone (Stephenville, Texas)

Breakaway Roping Challenger: Kylie Reininger (Seguin, Texas)

These athletes secured their berths by achieving the No. 1 position on the 2024 Women’s Rodeo World Championship Leaderboard, including nominated competition efforts at events from April 2023 to April 2024.

Of these No. 1-seeded athletes, Angelone is the lone contender to have previously been crowned a Women’s Rodeo World Champion.

In 2023, after an electric record-setting season, Angelone emerged as the supreme competitor, delivering a clutch performance for the all-around race in to be crowned the 2023 WRWC All-Around World Champion, earning the accompanying $20,000 bonus and Coats saddle. On top of her All-Around win in 2023, she locked in the heading event title and Heading World Championship, taking more nearly $90,000 in earnings.

The Virginia-native cowgirl will compete in three disciplines at the 2024 iteration of the event: team roping (heading), team roping (heeling), and breakaway roping.

Fans will be able to watch the action daily on Cowgirl Channel, Cowboy Channel, Cowboy Channel + App and PBR RidePass on Pluto TV. The landmark event’s Championship Round on May 18 from AT&T Stadium will then be featured LIVE on CBS Sports Network during the telecast for the PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship.

The 2024 Women’s Rodeo World Championship event is part of the second Women’s Rodeo World Championship Week, the richest women’s-only week of competition in Western sports, held during the 2024 PBR World Finals. The more than week-long schedule of events is slated to pay out $1.145 million in prize money, affording more than 800 women’s competitors the chance to compete for life-changing payouts.

Since launching in May 2020, the WRWC has awarded more than $3 million in new money to women's rodeo athletes. For more information about the WRWC visit wrwc.rodeo.

Photo courtesy of WRWC