To the Last Out: How John Crimber’s March Defined the 2026 PBR World Finals

This is what the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is all about. Fans inside Dickies Arena on Championship Sunday witnessed a historic showdown as the World Finals pushed the world’s best to their absolute limits. At the center of the storm was Crimber’s dynamic march, anchoring a World Finals that refused to crown a champion until the very last bull was ridden. Turn out the lights, because this one went down to the absolute wire.

All the championships remained undecided until the Championship Round. The event title itself hung in the balance until the final two outs, with Luciano de Castro holding an outside shot at unseating Hudson Bolton. But Bolton walked away with the crown after Nobody sent de Castro to the dirt before the 8-second whistle.

Rookie of the Year? Oh yeah, that wasn’t settled either—not until Fire Fight bucked out, ending Maverick Smith’s hopes of gaining ground on Marco Rizzo.

With those two titles decided, the World Championship race came down to a few mind-bending scenarios. Enter John Crimber. He had a brutal start to the World Finals, staring down a bleak 0-5 slump that would have broken a lesser rider. Crimber broke the ice in a big way, turning in a massive 89.40-point ride on July.

That single whistle changed everything. It was the exact moment the ice cracked, the momentum shifted, and his incredible march toward the gold buckle began.

He followed up that breakout performance on July with a gritty, hard-fought 84.95-point dance atop Icky Thump on Saturday night. Crimber was actually offered a reride, but he made the tactical decision to keep the score, putting him 28th on the World Finals leaderboard entering Championship Sunday.

He knew he needed to pull out something absolutely spectacular against What’s Poppin to give himself a shot at the Championship Round—and did he ever deliver. Crimber ran the table, sweeping Championship Sunday by starting with a sensational, round-winning 91.35-point ride on What’s Poppin to vault himself up to 9th in the event aggregate.

That massive score punched his ticket ot the short round where a familiar powerhouse foe was waiting: Tigger. With Australia’s Brady Fielder turning up the heat and threatening to derail the entire march, the 20-year-old Texan refused to blink. Crimber climbed aboard, matched him jump-for-jump, and shut the door on the world title race with an eye-popping 92.90-point 8-second masterpiece.

Could Hollywood have scripted it better than the reality of what happened inside Dickies Arena this afternoon? Perhaps. One thing is for sure: the fans in attendance were treated to edge-of-your-seat action up until the final out.
Congrats to John Crimber on realizing a dream—enjoy the spoils of the World Championship!