FORT WORTH, Texas – As the 2026 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Finals: Unleash The Beast got underway inside Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, Sage Steele Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma) electrified the sold-out crowd with a session-best 90.50 points aboard Short Fire to win Round 1 Thursday night.
“It’s great. To be able to come into a World Finals is special, but to have the great support system here that I do, it makes it all even better,” Kimzey said on the Paramount+ telecast.
“I kicked the week off on a good note. I’ve got eight more bulls to stay on, so that’s all I’m thinking about.”
With his 19th career premier series 90-point ride, Kimzey earned 59 UTB points and his sixth round win of the season, alongside the top pick in the Round 2 bull draft, with selection order calculated based on Round 1 results.
The seven-time PRCA gold buckle holder was the only Top 5-ranked cowboy to record a qualified ride Thursday, with No. 1 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) forced into a touch 2.27 seconds into his attempt aboard Wreck It Ralph and No. 2 Brady Fielder (Clermont, Australia) slapping Cherry Shot at the 2.11-second mark.
No. 4 Leandro Zampollo (Pirassununga, Brazil) was sent to the dirt by Jameson in 2.83 seconds, while No. 5 Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil) bucked off Cougar Uber in 3.92 seconds.
Bovine athletes dominated Round 1 competition, allowing just eight qualified rides.
No. 25 Callum Miller (Warwick, Australia) logged a season-high 90.25 points aboard Big Dawg and sits in second place on the event leaderboard following Round 1.
The Australian held the top spot until the third-from-last out of the night but still collected 34 UTB points for his opening night runner-up effort.
2022 PBR World Champion Daylon Swearingen (Piffard, New York) continued his hot stretch by knocking a re-ride dance with Let’s Roll out of the park.
Forcing the arena into a raucous celebration, he earned an 89.85-point score by completing his fourth-consecutive premier series conversion and claiming the second spot on the scoreboard.
No. 7 Swearingen rounded out the Round 1 podium and took home 31 UTB points.
2025 PBR Rookie of the Year Hudson Bolton (Milan, Tennessee) remained red-hot in Fort Worth, now successful in nine of his last 10 outs following an 8-second dance with Blonde Bomber.
Officially 7-for-9 all-time in World Finals competition, the 20-year-old, No. 19 in the standings, enters Round 2 in fourth place and netted 28 UTB points for his 89.65-point showcase.
No. 17 Luciano De Castro (Guzolandia, Brazil) recorded a tour-best tenth-straight conversion Thursday as the first cowboy to go the distance in the opening round.
The veteran scored 88.45 points after matching Mean Machine step for step as one of the hottest cowboys over the second half of the season to earn 26 UTB points and round out the Top 5.
Three additional riders converted in Round 1 Thursday night, with Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil), Keyshawn Whitehorse (McCracken Spring, Utah) and Paulo Eduardo Rossetto (Colorado, Brazil) each set to begin Round 2 with a score on the board.
Round 1 also included an ABBI (American Bucking Bull Inc.) Classic competition, featuring the sport’s up-and-coming bovine athletes competing for their share of a $68,000 prize purse.
Freedom Fighter and Jeffrey D were each marked 90.24 points to share the Classic event title, tossing Romario Leite(Pedra Preta, Brazil) in 2.18 seconds and Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana) in 3.61 seconds, respectively.
Both bulls earned $13,260 for their efforts.
Action for the 2026 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – at Cowtown Coliseum continues Friday, May 8 at 7:45 p.m. CT, with Day 2 coverage set to begin on Paramount+ at 8 p.m. CT.
All eight days of World Finals competition are available via Paramount+.
Unleash The Beast – 2026 PBR World Finals
Cowtown Coliseum – Fort Worth, Texas
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Round 4-Round 5-Round 6-Round 7-Round 8-Round 9-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Sage Steele Kimzey, 90.5-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-90.50-59 Points.
2. Callum Miller, 90.25-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-90.25-34 Points.
3. Daylon Swearingen, 89.85-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-89.85-31 Points.
4. Hudson Bolton, 89.65-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-89.65-28 Points.
5. Luciano De Castro, 88.45-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-88.45-26 Points.
6. Dener Barbosa, 87.7-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-87.70-23 Points.
7. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 86.95-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-86.95-21 Points.
8. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 84.55-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-84.55-18 Points.
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Marco Rizzo, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Maverick Smith, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cassio Dias, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Jess Lockwood, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Kase Hitt, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Manoelito de Souza Junior, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Bruno Carvalho, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Andy Guzman, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Alex Junior da Silva, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Alison dos Santos, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Romario Leite, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Macaulie Leather, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Grayson Cole, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Gustavo Luiz da Silva, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
2026 Professional Bull Riders Unleash The Beast Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5's, Points, Total Winnings)
1. John Crimber, 19, 2, 7, 984.50, $209,990.00
2. Brady Fielder, 19, 3, 6, 815.00, $218,284.17
3. Sage Steele Kimzey, 16, 3, 4, 746.00, $179,187.62
4. Leandro Zampollo, 16, 0, 6, 608.50, $121,850.12
5. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 19, 1, 6, 545.00, $112,155.00
6. Alex Cerqueira, 19, 0, 3, 541.50, $91,765.00
7. Daylon Swearingen, 14, 2, 2, 531.50, $156,590.00
8. Dalton Kasel, 16, 2, 4, 506.50, $133,348.33
9. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 18, 1, 1, 426.00, $72,491.67
10. Marco Rizzo, 19, 1, 3, 422.00, $97,340.00
11. Cort McFadden, 15, 0, 2, 414.00, $50,730.48
12. Clay Guiton, 8, 0, 4, 409.50, $89,715.48
13. Julio Cesar Marques, 18, 0, 3, 408.00, $74,005.48
14. Bob Mitchell, 16, 0, 3, 406.50, $66,921.67
15. Claudio Montanha Jr., 19, 0, 3, 405.00, $70,982.14
16. Cassio Dias, 19, 1, 1, 399.50, $73,240.48
17. Luciano De Castro, 17, 0, 5, 383.00, $50,782.98
18. Maverick Smith, 17, 0, 2, 379.00, $65,358.33
19. Hudson Bolton, 11, 0, 3, 367.00, $71,492.50
20. Kaiden Loud, 17, 0, 3, 336.00, $54,863.33
21. Jess Lockwood, 9, 1, 1, 292.00, $78,125.00
22. Thiago Salgado, 16, 0, 1, 284.50, $41,190.00
23. Daniel Keeping, 18, 0, 1, 278.00, $38,575.00
24. Koltin Hevalow, 18, 0, 1, 260.50, $43,033.33
25. Callum Miller, 17, 0, 2, 260.00, $27,697.14
26. Andrew Alvidrez, 17, 1, 1, 229.00, $61,133.33
27. Jose Vitor Leme, 11, 0, 1, 211.50, $27,900.00
28. Bruno Carvalho, 14, 0, 0, 204.50, $8,700.00
29. Felipe Furlan, 11, 0, 3, 197.00, $39,197.14
29. Eduardo Aparecido, 18, 0, 1, 197.00, $32,790.00
31. Kaique Pacheco, 18, 0, 1, 195.50, $18,475.00
32. Alan de Souza, 17, 0, 1, 190.00, $20,100.00
33. Lucas Divino, 14, 0, 1, 168.00, $17,550.00
34. Kase Hitt, 16, 0, 1, 147.00, $16,632.14
35. Dener Barbosa, 5, 0, 1, 133.00, $10,700.00
36. Trace Redd, 8, 0, 1, 128.00, $23,000.00
37. Afonso Quintino, 15, 0, 0, 127.00, $11,307.14
38. Manoelito de Souza Junior, 14, 0, 1, 112.00, $18,500.00
39. Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 19, 0, 0, 108.00, $15,600.00
40. Kade Madsen, 5, 0, 0, 106.00, $3,150.00
41. João Ricardo Vieira, 15, 0, 0, 92.50, $7,183.33
42. Austin Richardson, 8, 0, 0, 80.50, $12,875.00
43. Andy Guzman, 14, 0, 0, 78.00, $12,050.00
44. Alison dos Santos, 10, 0, 0, 65.00, $5,100.00
45. Alex Junior da Silva, 7, 0, 0, 62.50, $4,275.00
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media