Inside the rise of Ky Hamilton and his tumultuous journey to becoming Australia’s first PRCA Bull Riding World Champion

Fractured ribs, bruised lungs, and a campus shooting couldn’t stop Ky Hamilton’s quest for glory. Discover the story behind the Aussie bull rider who has shocked and beaten America’s best.

Four rounds down, six to go.

Mackay’s Ky Hamilton is entrenched in the pointy end of the bull riding leaderboard at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

He’s just a handful of rides away from securing the coveted gold buckle as Australia’s first Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association world champion bull rider - and the first to come from outside of North America.

The absurd feat is so close he can touch it, but the unthinkable happens when Ky loses his grip and is flung from the bull in his fifth round ride.

This isn’t any old wreck. His helpless frame spins 540 degrees, taking the form of a life-size frisbee before coming to a bone-crunching halt as it meets the hard dirt unsympathetically.

He lays there motionless. Out cold. The bull’s rampaging legs stomp dangerously close to his unconscious body before he’s tended to by medical staff.

“He was probably the worst wreck of the finals, I must admit,” Ky’s mum Sharell Hamilton said with a slight chuckle.

“He actually got hit in the chest, fractured his first rib on his left side and also bruised his lung, and he had like this little air bubble between his lung and lung-liner.

“He gained consciousness, was stretchered off, went to the trauma centre for complete head-to-toe X-rays.”

Mackay's Ky Hamilton in his element in the NFR Bull Riding. Picture: Michael Magill

‘He saw red’

The chaos that punctured the final days of Ky’s gold buckle pursuit came not only from his jarring injury, but from a fatal shooting.

Three were left dead and another three injured after a gunman opened fire on December 6 at the University of Nevada, of which the Thomas and Mack Center hosting the finals was connected.

While no one involved in the NFR was harmed, the event led to a police evacuation and the delay of that round’s rides.

It meant rounds six and seven would be scheduled for the same day - the day after Ky’s horror wreck - with round six occurring in the morning.

Having spent the night in hospital, where Sharell estimates he got no more than two hours sleep, Ky was given the okay to complete both his round six and seven rides that night so he had time to rest and recover.

Ky Hamilton.

“Within five minutes of getting back to his hotel room he got another text saying that the decision’s been revoked, you’ve got to ride your first bull in this morning’s performance and if you don’t you’ve got to pull out of your night performance,” Sharell recalled.

“He saw red and got himself together and went back to the rodeo.

“He had to see the rodeo doctor, and he basically just said to him, ‘with what I’ve got going on with my rib and my lung, if I get on, do my job properly and get off half decent can I die?’

“The doctor was like, ‘no, you definitely can’t die’.”

‘Well that’s all I need to know,’ was Ky’s response.

He would place third that morning, just hours after being discharged from hospital, but it was that evening where he etched his name into bull riding folklore.

Of the 15 riders competing, Ky - despite his injuries sustained just 24 hours earlier - was the only one to reach the required eight seconds on the bull, taking home first to sixth’s prize money as a result.

“No one could touch him (after that), he was so far ahead,” mused Sharell.

“He’s getting a bit hero worshipped for not being a pussy, but at the same time he knew he couldn’t die, you’re so close, this is the finals, that gold buckle is just within your grasp.

“Everything’s on the line, if you get that green light you’re going to go ahead and continue.”

Ky’s season would be memorable for a number of reasons, not only did he take home the gold buckle as the PRCA Bull Riding World Champion, he was the overall average champion for Bull Riding and the Top Gun winner.

Mackay's very own PRCA Bull Riding World Champion Ky Hamilton with his gold buckle. Picture: Fernando Sam-Sin.

The Top Gun award is given to the person with the most earnings across every category of the NFR.

Including his regular season kitty, the 23-year-old pocketed a whopping $595,414 USD across the 2023 season, lifting his career earnings over seven figures.

“It’s a short-lived career, so he wants to get himself set up, he won’t want a 9-5 after he’s lived this crazy life,” said Sharell, revealing Ky’s already bought 11 acres in Stephenville, Texas.

“He’s gonna build bullpens there because he wants to have his own bulls … he’s got something to put his money into so he can continue to build his life for himself.”

Journey to the top

Sharell revealed her son’s love for bull-riding stemmed from her husband Michael, who grew up rodeoing from a young age, be it riding bulls, bareback, or saddle bronc.

“Ky just always loved the cowboys and idolised the cowboy lifestyle before he was even into riding bulls,” Sharell said.

“We got more channels on the TV and he started watching PBR and riders like Troy Dunn.”

It was at age 12 that Ky, who was already riding motorbikes in enduro and motocross, said he wanted to try bull riding.

“His father always told him if it’s a sport you want to do you do it 100% or not at all, it’s not a sport you can do half-heartedly,” she said.

“Michael carted him all over Queensland, took him to a couple of bull-riding schools, taught him everything he knew.

“Ky’s passion and dedication never wavered, from that minute of being 12, it was incredible to see, he totally deserves everything.”

Ky Hamilton competing in his early bull riding days in Hervey Bay.

At age 17, the power of Facebook would see Ky recruited to Texas’ Odessa College to ride bulls after a coach saw videos of him in action, but his parents wouldn’t allow him to leave until he was 18, holding out hope he could finish his apprenticeship.

After a year with Odessa he transferred to Sul Ross University, following the coach that recruited him.

It had long been a wish of Ky’s to pursue his bull riding dream in America, and Sharell said he took to the country and its rodeo lifestyle “like a duck to water” despite being just 18 years of age.

“People (in Australia), we don’t realise what it’s like to rodeo over there,” she said.

“You’re not just going once a weekend, you could be rodeoing everyday and if you’re not you’ve got a 14-hour drive to the next event.”

Bull riding’s brutality

Before sustaining his fractured rib and bruised lung in the past month, Ky already had an injury rap sheet long enough to make you squeamish.

It includes a broken jaw, fractured eye socket, a hip injury that required surgery, and a damaged ACL.

Sharell also estimates he’s been knocked out three to four times throughout his career.

“It’s not nice at all when you’re up there in the stands you’re just waiting for signs that they’re communicating and moving,” she said.

“He’s 23 and I’ve got to think to myself, he knows his body, he knows his capabilities.

Ky Hamilton rides out at the 2021 Bull Riding Champion of Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. Picture: Robert Rosales Natural Light Photography/Supplied.

“He’s made a choice and a decision and he’s going to do everything in his power to keep realising his dream.

“He keeps on saying that at the end of the day, you’re riding bulls, anything can and will happen, you’ve just got to put everything in place to do your best to have a clean ride and get off and get away.”

‘The very best’

Step off a plane at Mackay Airport and you’re greeted by a wall adorned with profiles celebrating the talent and success of the region.

Alongside celebrated names such as Olympic hero Cathy Freeman and cross-code Australian representative Wendell Sailor sits Troy Dunn.

Dunn, also a bull riding world-beater in his own right, took out the Professional Bull Riding World Finals in 1995 and 97, and the World Titles in 98.

Troy Dunn pictured in 2013. Picture: Tony Martin

The icon has run varying forms of bull riding schools since 1992, and first came across Hamilton when he was 15.

“I always thought he had plenty of ability, he was certainly naturally talented,” Dunn recalls.

“More than that, what I liked about him was he was tough physically, and he was also very disciplined, that was why I thought he looked like a good prospect.

“He’s always been that humble fella that wanted to learn and was never too good to learn, he’s definitely a student of the game.”

Ky Hamilton when he was still competing in Queensland, in action in the novice bull ride at the Collinsville Rodeo.

Along with Ky’s family, Dunn was also fortunate enough to be in attendance for the finals, and described seeing Ky presented with the gold buckle as “surreal”.

“To be knocked out real bad like he was and ride his next two bulls and finish the deal, that type of thing doesn’t happen everyday, it was pretty special,” he reflected.

“No one will ever question his toughness again.”

Dunn also reminisced on the special slice of history he and Ky now share, as world champions of PBR and PRCA bull-riding respectively.

“There’s two of us now from Mackay … that’s pretty way out really … it’s crazy to see him go all the way, it was really special for us.

“He’s the very best bull rider from Australia, that’s for sure.”

Originally published as Inside the rise of Ky Hamilton and his tumultuous journey to becoming Australia’s first PRCA Bull Riding World Champion