Cody Coverchuk Reflects on Torrid 2024 Season

AIRDRIE, Alta. – While 2024 PBR Canada Champion Nick Tetz may have had a record-setting season, including 12 event wins, it was his rival Cody Coverchuk, runner up in the title race, who set the pace for those historical achievements.

Coverchuck, who was chasing history, seeking his record-tying third PBR Canada Championship, kicked off 2024 in commanding fashion, winning the first two events to build a massive lead approaching the busiest months of the Canadian campaign. 

But then he tore his groin and was sidelined for the month of August. 

Champions seize those kinds of opportunities, and Tetz capitalized, closing the gap and making it a two-horse race to the finish. 

While the 2024 PBR Canada National Finals inside Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, didn’t go Coverchuk’s way, he is still happy with his season. 

“Overall, it was an awesome year,” Coverchuk said. “I lost the title the year before, and I went to Lloydminster to prove that I was more than a contender. They say that I start off the year cold, so I wanted to put that to rest, and start the year off with a bang. I did that, and we kept it rolling.”

“It was an awesome year. Injuries happen though. After those injuries I wasn’t sure what my bull riding was going to be like. Came back to Grande Prairie and won.” 

“Awesome year,” is no self-administered pat-on-the-back hyperbole. 

Across both the developmental Touring Pro Division and elite Cup Series, Coverchuk won eight events and 15 rounds, while covering a torrid 57.89% (33-for-57) of his draws. 

Coverchuk is a realist about how the title race turned out. He’ll use the learnings from this season as motivation for next year and bear down to work even harder while taking better care of his body.

“I just wish I could have ended it a bit stronger,” he said. “That is the way it goes sometimes, there can only be one winner and Nick beat me, so that will be my driving force in 2025. I want to be number one at least one more time in my career.”

Coverchuk has spent the last 12 years of his career avoiding an abundance of serious injuries, but tearing his groin in Lacombe, Alberta, this year was an eye opener.

The Saskatchewan man, however, turned the injury into an opportunity when he began working with Acumen Performance, a Canadian industry leader in Western event athlete fitness. 

“It made me realize, when I tore my groin off, that I am just getting old. Injuries suck, but I didn’t have to deal with too many in my career, I have been fortunate that way,” Coverchuk explained. “My body is finally telling me I have to take care of it. I got in touch with Acumen and have been going to the gym twice a week, and that is a serious change from never going to the gym. I can count on one hand how many times I have stepped into the gym in my career.” 

“It makes me feel better, my body feels great, so that will be the plan moving forward,” Coverchuk added. “Keeping up with the maintenance too, get a chiropractic adjustment or a massage here and there. I am going to start talking to a sports psychologist, too. That is something I have never done, I have always just dealt with stuff on my own. It will be showing me a different side of the sport, I think. I can always keep trying to make myself better.”

Coverchuk has been in the Championship equation the past two seasons within a bull or two of winning the title, which is a tough pill to swallow. He believes that working with a sports psychologist will be another tool to continue riding at an elite level. 

“I am not really too sure what to expect yet. Thinking now, it can make the losses easier on myself, not take it so personal. Being within a bull or two, that's 8 or 16 seconds, and its life altering. It doesn’t seem like much, but it alters my life,” Coverchuk said. 

“I am trying to grow as a person, get a wrap on everything. I don’t have many expectations going in there, but what I have learned from working with Acumen is that it is only going to make me better.”

When speaking about his Championship this season, Tetz said that without Coverchuk’s mammoth lead much of the year, he wouldn’t have had the season he had. 

Coverchuk echoes Tetz sentiments, saying that while he would have loved to run away with the title, a race like this season lights a fire under everyone involved. 

“Nick specifically, watching him while I was hurt, he was winning a ton of events. I thought I had an outstanding year, and then watching him pass me, it was surreal. I thought I had it. I don’t know why, I got lazy with myself. As far as Nick goes, he grinds and he is a really talented human being,” Coverchuk said. 

“He makes me and the whole competition better when he is there. He is a bad ass dude, I have a lot of respect for him. I am happy he is still in the locker room with us. He is younger than me, but we qualified for the CFR at the same time in 2018. He has always made me a better rider. I am looking forward to another good race this year.”

Looking back across a season full of victories and round wins, Coverchuk said winning the PBR Canada Cup Series event in Grande Prairie, Alberta, his first back from his injury, was the highlight of his season. 

“When I came back to Grande Prairie, I was unsure, I think everyone was unsure if I was healthy, and if my groin was going to hold on,” Coverchuk explained.  

“There were so many unknowns. Walking into Grande Prairie, after making that first one it was a relief. But after riding Langham Kid that Saturday night, that was a highlight for me. It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. That has to be my highlight of the year.”

As for what next season holds, Coverchuk says he will be grinding it out again this season, starting at the season launch event in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. 

“Of course, with that kind of money on the line, I am going to go hard in 2025,” Coverchuk concluded.  

“I am going to step back a touch and hit a few pro rodeos in 2025 and try to make the CFR. I am going to go to at least 15 pro rodeos. I will be going to the PBR hard, too, because who doesn't want to go to where the most money is, the best bulls are.”