World Team Dominates Colorado vs. World Rodeo

The Colorado vs the World rodeo is the kickoff rodeo to two weeks of performances during the famous National Western Stock Show.

Colorado VS The World Champions | Sami Jo Buum

Colorado vs the World is the kickoff rodeo to the beginning of two weeks of rodeo at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo. This is the 120th year that Denver, Colorado, has hosted massive livestock shows, conventions, and PRCA rodeos.

Who gets to compete in Colorado vs the World?

We caught up with Leon Vick, a NWSS representative, before the rodeo, and he explained that the rodeo was set up to be “TV-friendly, where fans can easily follow the tournament style all the way throughout the day's performances.

The rodeo invites eight competitors in Bareback Riding, Steer Wrestling, Saddle Bronc Riding, Barrel Racing, and Bull Riding to represent rodeos around the world and eight competitors in the same events to represent rodeos within the Centennial State.

The competitors are invited after winning the designated rodeos in the 2025 season. The eight rodeos designated for the World Team are Fort Worth (Tx), Rapid City (SD), San Angelo (Tx), Austin (Tx), Houston (Tx), Calgary, Cheyenne (Wy), and Dodge City (Ks).

The rodeos that were on the Colorado team were, Denver, Elizabeth, Greeley, Estes Park, Colorado Springs, Loveland, Pueblo, and a Wild Card set.

What is the Structure for the Tournament Style rodeo?

In the 11 AM performance, the World Team was up first. Eight competitors in each event competed to move on to the Final performance. The top four from each event would advance to the final round at the 8 PM performance.

The 3:30 PM performance was the time for the Colorado team contestants to compete. Just like the World, the top four in each event from the Colorado Team would move on to the finals at 8 PM.

Once in the Finals, the number one competitor from each team would move on to the short round.

This becomes a match between the two teams, with one representative for each team in a winner-take-all situation.

World Team Wins

After nearly sweeping every event, the World Team dominated the short round events, making the World Team the 2026 champions.

In the Bareback riding, representing the world, Tucker Carricato ended up on top, giving the world team their first win. Carricato was invited to represent Cheyenne and fought his way through the semi-finals and finals to win the short round.

Another Cheyenne representative, Tyke Kipp, battled his way through the tournament to win the short round and give the world another win. Kipp capitalized at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo to win the steer wrestling, and proceeded to give one of rodeos most epic winners circle interviews.

After his win, Tyke met us behind the chutes, Pendleton bottle in hand, grinning from ear to ear and delivered us another great interview.

When asked about his win, Kipp started with, “What a great day! First of all, I want to thank God, I want to thank Logan Kenline for letting me on, and thank Eli Lord for hazing.”

When asked about the cattle and the rodeo setup, Kipp said, “The cattle were l'evel expert' today, they were really, really big, really, really full, and the way the day started, I was a little worried."

Kipp battled through to the Final round, where he was second to compete. Kalane Anders, who had won the final round for the Colorado team, had the fastest time in the final round, so he had the option to go second or to pick his steer.

Anders chose to pick his steer, which landed him in the first position in the Final Round, giving Kipp the desired last-to-go position. After Anders received a no time, Kipp knew all he had to do was receive a time.

After an intense 5.48 seconds, Kipp got his beef turned over to solidify his first Colorado vs the World championship.

Kipp is headed to Odessa, Texas, next, then will be back in Colorado to compete in the PRCA rodeo at the NWSS. He is hoping the momentum he has built after winning the Colorado vs the World Rodeo continues.

In the Saddle Bronc Riding, the World team capitalized again when Thayne Elshere won the short round. This put the world team at three and the Colorado team at zero wins.

The barrel racing was an emotional story, as the famous NFR qualifier Amanda Welsh Wisehart brought back her incredibly talented horse, Firefly, to the competition after battling what they thought was a career-ending injury.

Wisehart won the semifinals round for the World team in the 11 AM performance and then won the Final round, qualifying her for the short round.

Loralee Ward, was the fastest time in her semifinal and finals set to secure her spot in the short round.

Ward made the decision to make a horse change, while Welsh chose to stay abord Firefly. Wisehart said, “I was just making each run at a time and letting him tell me if he wanted more runs or if I was going to get on my colt I brought along."

Wisehart chose to run first and it paid off. She narrowly stopped the clock faster than Ward to clinch the Colorado vs the World championship, adding another win for Team World.

It was a very emotional win for Amanda, and she held back tears as she told us, “I made one run in a jackpot on Firefly on New Year's Eve, and then we came here. He kept getting better and better every run and made it clear he was feeling great to continue on to make all three runs.”

Wisehart has plans to get Firefly back in the rodeo scene, but with caution. She said, “He is 16 this year, and I plan to be wise with my selections on where he runs, but he is not ready to go back into retirement.”

“This win means the world to me, he is just so special, and God has blessed me so much with him, and this horse just steps up every time I need him. He is just a blessing."

Amanda Welsh Getting ready for the Short Round | Sami Jo Buum

Amanda was not the only Welsh (that is her maiden name) to compete in the short round. Her nephew, Hayden Welsh is coming off a phenomenal year as a young and upcoming bull rider. Hayden comes from rodeo royalty as not only is his Aunt an NFR Qualifier, his dad, Bobby Welsh, was a very accomplished PRCA Bull Rider and multiple NFR qualifier himself.

Hayden rode his bull to score 86 points and win the bull riding in the short round to win the Colorado vs the World championship for team Colorado.

It was a great night for the Wyoming family, bringing home two wins from the Colorado vs the World.

In the end team world managed to nearly shut out team Colorado winning four of the five events.

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