FORT WORTH – The road to the 2025 PBR World Championship might not be as smooth as John Crimber would’ve hoped.

The 19-year-old phenom has been ranked No. 1 in the Unleash The Beast standings since the jump, winning the season-opening PBR Tucson and the PBR St. Louis, presented by Michelob ULTRA, a few weeks later. He began the season a cool 6-for-8 through three events and looked all but unstoppable.

Lately, however, Crimber has cooled off considerably. Since that 6-for-8 (75%) start, he’s gone 4-for-11 (36.4%) in the subsequent four events, finishing in the Top 5 at just one of them.

Perhaps a worrying trend, though the season is long, and even the best riders go through slumps. But Crimber’s woes aren’t out of the blue – a lingering hand injury has reared its head.

“Here the past couple of weeks, I’ve been battling an injury I had last year on my hand, and I’ve been trying to get it treated,” Crimber said at the PBR Monster Energy Buck Off At the Garden, presented by Ariat, in New York City. “But I’m trying to tough it out because that world title race is getting hot, and I know it’s been kind of rough, but you’ve got to ride through it sometimes. Just depends on how bad you want it. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, just kind of clear everything out and go ride my bull because a million dollars and that gold buckle will be worth it, I think.”

Crimber first damaged the ligaments in his riding hand at a PBR Canada event in 2023.

“Ever since then, it’s kind of been hit or miss,” he said. “Some days it hurts, some days it doesn’t. This time, it kind of got me good, but I’ve just got to tough it out.”

This is the same injury that impacted him early in the 2024 season, when he sat out for a month to give it time to heal.

That ultimately didn’t hurt him much, as he still finished the season ranked No. 2 in the world. But it also begs the question: if he hadn’t had to take time off, could he have secured the world title?

He’s already lost a significant chunk of his lead in the standings. Following St. Louis, he was 132 points ahead of No. 2 Dalton Kasel. Now, he’s just 53 points ahead of Kasel, who also went 1-for-3 in New York, and both No. 3 Julio Cesar Marques (1-for-3 in New York) and No. 4 Lucas Divino (New York winner) are within 132 points.

Things to ponder, certainly, but Crimber isn’t wasting time thinking about taking time off again.

“Honestly, last year I took a month or so off, and I’m not taking a month off this time,” he said. “I can’t do that. I’ll go crazy, and I can’t just sit there and watch bull riding in my house, especially when I own bulls. It’s been sucking these past couple of weeks because I can’t get on practice bulls or nothing, and it’s been killing me.”

NEW YORK MINUTE

Despite the hand injury limiting him to a 1-for-3 performance in New York City, Crimber enjoyed his time in the Big Apple with a few one-of-a-kind experiences.

As one of the riders in town to promote the event, Crimber was a celebrity guest at New York Knicks and Rangers games, rubbing elbows with celebrities.

“The Knicks game was probably the coolest thing this week because I got to meet a lot of famous people,” Crimber, wearing his custom New York Rangers jersey, said. “I met Tracy Morgan. There’s a rapper named Eight Boogie wit da Hoodie. We were up there doing the ESPN deal – I got to do an interview up there. And we looked down and some guy’s sitting right on our seats, and I’m like, ‘Who’s sat on our seats?’ We got down there and it’s that guy, chains everywhere. I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy!’ I was fangirling the whole time. I met one of the Knicks basketball players, Karl-Anthony Towns.

“I enjoyed it. It was a good time. And they acted how we act to them, like, ‘Oh my god, you’re famous.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not famous. We ride bulls. It’s not the same.’ It was really cool.”

Crimber was also captured on social media getting his first tattoo at the Monster Energy Lounge and doing a photo shoot on the streets of midtown Manhattan.

However, he did not enjoy visiting the Edge observation deck, the highest observation deck in the Western Hemisphere at 1,100 feet—and with a glass floor to boot.

“Heights are pretty scary for me,” Crimber said, admitting that he can’t even ride rollercoasters. “Not a fan. I don’t know why they made us do that. I said, ‘Look, there’s a big mall right here. Why don’t we just shop? There’s a candy store right across from where we’re going. Let’s just go to the candy store.’

“I did not go near that glass. I kind of gave it a little touch and got out of there. The wind was blowing so hard, I swear I could blow away. I’m not that big. I was going to blow away, and I was just like, ‘Why are we here? What are we doing?’ ‘It’s the view!’ Screw the view. Let’s go somewhere else. Let’s get out of here. The elevator was going up so fast that I was just like, no. Let’s just go home. Let’s get out of here. It’s cold.”

Luckily for us all, Crimber survived his brush with heights and lives to fight another day. He’ll be in action this weekend at the PBR Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois, on Jan. 10-11. He takes on Gunsmoke in Round 1 at 9 p.m. ET on RidePass and the PBR’s YouTube channel, X account, and app.

And, while he may have his hand injury to contend with, his New Year’s resolution is simple.

“Same as every year: be a World Champion,” Crimber said. “That’s what my New Year’s resolution is.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media