No Fluke: Tyler Wade, Wesley Thorp Repeat as PRCA Team Roping World Champions in 2024

Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp proved their gold buckles had nothing to do with luck when they stopped the clock in 3.8 seconds to win second in Round 10 and seal the deal on their second straight world titles—Thorp’s third overall—with season earnings of $361,480.

In doing so, Wade and Thorp bested the single-season earnings record, previously held by Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira set in 2022 of $340,708.23.

But in spite of their record-breaking season, their world championship was far from guaranteed as they rode into the box at last out in the tenth round. In fact, as they watched the teams in front of them falter, they found themselves alone in the alley, shouting back and forth at each other trying to figure out what sort of run they needed to make.

“Wesley’s like, ‘We just got to make our run,’” Wade, 32, said. “I’m like, ‘How fast do we got to go?!’ I heard fast. He’s like, “Fast enough.” I’m like, do we need 4.8 or do we need 3.8?!’ But our steer was good enough. I feel like we knew if we caught him, we had a good shot. I told Wesley when we got the text on the steer, I said, ‘Hey, they’re going to give us a shot right here.’ And I was just glad to capitalize on it.”

Wade and Thorp had the steer Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin had been 3.5 on to win Round 7, and Wade pinged the barrier.

“I was pretty sure I really did think he got out,” Thorp, 29, said. “There was just a spot where he looked back and I was wondering what he was looking at. And I’m like, well, maybe he knows something I don’t.”

But Wade was in fact safe at the barrier, and he and Thorp knew were confident they’d sealed the deal as they rode out of the arena.

“I remember last year when I was on stage with Wesley, they said, ‘Two world titles are it cool because it proves it wasn’t a fluke.’ And I’m sitting over there with one, so I was like, oh, all right… So it’s really cool to do it again.”

Thorp, who won his first world title in 2019 heeling for Cody Snow but splitting the title with Clay Smith, said the third buckle feels a whole lot different than the first one.

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Team roping world standings

As of Dec. 14

NFR team roping average standings

As of Dec. 14

NFR Team Roping Round 10