Jesse Expects to Ride at World Finals in Arlington Despite Hip Injury
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – Colten Jesse shook his head in frustration and grabbed his bull rope before slowly walking back to the locker room at Wells Fargo Arena on Sept. 19.
Jesse had hoped he would be able to attempt to ride American Gangster in the 15/15 Bucking Battle, but the pain in his hip was simply unbearable following two buckoffs in Round 1 of the PBR Lucas Oil Invitational.
The No. 7-ranked bull rider in the world has been trying to ride with a labral tear on the right side of his hip, and it has been a challenge for him since the injury worsened on Sept. 11 in Billings, Montana.
Therefore, Jesse has decided to take an additional week off and skip this weekend’s PBR Wrangler Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Jesse said he is taking things week to week, and he hopes the time off will help him some so that he can grit things out for the 2020 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast on Nov. 12-15 in Arlington, Texas.
“That’s the plan as of right now,” Jesse said Tuesday.
The 23-year-old had not wanted to address the injury publically in early September because he didn’t want to make excuses for any buckoffs or struggles in the arena. It was up to him to figure out how to make the 8-second mark, Jesse explained.
“I don’t want anyone making excuses for me because I’m damn sure not making them for myself or going to need them,” Jesse said at the time.
Jesse decided to address the injury this week on social media, though, after receiving inquiries on how he was doing following the Unleash The Beast event in Des Moines, Iowa, after he was unable to finish out a second consecutive event and decided to skip Lincoln.
2020 has been a career year for Jesse, so the frustration is understandable.
Jesse has a career-high 16 qualified rides on the Unleash The Beast, and he opened the stretch run to the PBR World Finals with the first premier series win of his career in Bismarck, North Dakota. That victory, highlighted by a sensational 92.25-point winning ride on Sky Harbor, helped Jesse rise to No. 4 in the world standings and get to within 358.5 points of world No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme.
However, Jesse then missed two UTB events, and he has failed to earn any world points at the last three UTB events, going 0-for-6, as his injury worsened, and Leme picked up steam with three consecutive victories.
Leme will get a chance to extend his 838-point lead on Jesse this weekend in Lincoln with Jesse out of competition.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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