EFFICIENCY ENDURES
Jordan Hansen from Ponoka, Alberta, qualified for his second National Finals Rodeo in 2019 riding efficiently and put simply – enduring setbacks. In 2017 he won Round 8 and placed in four rounds to place sixth in the average with 338 points on four head and rank eighth in the world with $180,295.
He missed the NFR in 2018 when a pedicle fracture (back) sidelined him first for three months. He finished that year 35th in the PRCA World Standings with 2018 earnings of $54,355.
"They think it happened in Cheyenne (Wyo.) in 2017, but they're not really sure," Hansen said. "I just kept dealing with it, but they finally scanned where the pain was coming from, and they figured it out. I don't know if it was, but it got worse using it more and more, and they said it was bad enough toward the end to take three months off,” said Hansen to Prorodeo.com in August.
The injury set him back again last winter, so he was not sure what 2019 would bring. According to ProRodeo.com, Hansen’s scan also revealed an old break in his femur that hadn’t healed properly.
“I was out for the better part of the year,” Hansen said.
"The hip has been wrecked for some time," added Hansen, who lives in Ponoka now. "They were worried about my back, more than anything, so just making sure I took enough time to make sure that healed up,” said Hansen.
When returning, he scored early in July and kept the "cowboy Christmas" myth alive. But August in Utah will always be memorable for Hansen, who was ranked 24th with $48,832 going into that rodeo – still $17,629 out of the NFR qualifying top 15. He won $12,956 at the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo in Heber City, Utah, on Aug. 3. and the momentum endured.
"There's a lot of rodeos left this year, and I've got a lot of bulls ahead," Hansen said.
He returns to the NFR in eleventh place with ten event titles on the season and $114,747.21 in the PRCA bank - hoping to add to that after ten days in Las Vegas. Hansen earned money in 59% of the 66 rodeos, where he competed, proving his ability to maximize effort.
Hansen began his professional PRCA career when he joined in 2014 and has total recorded earnings of $313,400. He began competing in rodeo when he was 12 years old because his mom is a barrel racer and escribes his riding style as "unorthodox" because he goes to the front more, and his knees are drawn up further. Hansen holds a welding degree from Red Deer College earned in 2016.Stat
Stats courtesy of Prorodeo.com and the PRCA.