Kelsie Domer – Breakaway Champion

By Patrick Everson

On Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, eight world champions will be crowned in the rodeo world. Seven event leaders will be honored, along with whomever wins all-around world champion cowboy.

But there’s already been one gold buckle awarded in Las Vegas – before the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo even began.

On Dec. 4, the 2024 National Finals Breakaway Roping wrapped up its 10-round run at the South Point Arena & Equestrian Center. And Kelsie Domer rode out with a world championship, though not without drama.

Domer was clean through nine go-rounds, leading the average at 22.0 seconds. Then it got interesting.

“I just missed him. That’s all there is to it,” Domer said of her 10^th-round no-time. “After that, I was bummed.”

That’s because Domer wasn’t sure if she’d still win the average or, more important, the breakaway world title. But husband Ryan Domer was doing the math and assured her the average title was clinched.

“Then I just had to wait and see if I finished No. 1 in the world. I didn’t know until they announced it. It probably felt like a lot longer than it was,” she said.

When the dust settled, Domer’s seasonlong total added up to $168,758, good for the gold buckle, just ahead of second-place Martha Angelone ($165,505).

It was Domer’s first breakaway world title under the event’s new format, which began in 2020. Under the old format with the WPRA, Domer won world championships three straight times, from 2017-19.

“It was pretty much just raw emotion. I teared up. All my hard work paid off, and I got to my final goal. Now, I can check that off,” Domer said.

She won the world title in her third year of qualifying for the National Finals Breakaway Roping. Domer competed at the South Point in the 2021 and 2023 Finals. In 2021, she finished fourth in the world, and she was sixth in 2023.

No surprise, after landing her first NFBR crown, Domer deferred credit to her horse, Little Man.

“He was huge. I rode him in 98% of the rodeos this year, and all 10 rounds in the Finals,” Domer said. “He was a huge part of it. He did his job.”