Westminster Masters Agility Championship Results
Before getting into this week’s podcast, it’s worth starting with the numbers. The 2026 Westminster Masters Agility Championship delivered the most-watched agility broadcast on FOX since 2019, which matters when we talk about visibility and why this particular event carries the weight that it does. According to FOX Sports and Nielsen, the broadcast averaged 1,240,000 viewers, up 57 percent from 2025, and peaked at 1,487,000 during the live Finals.
If you want to watch the full 2026 Westminster Masters Agility Championship, FOX Sports shared the complete competition on YouTube, where you can skip around to each height class:
In the 2026 Masters Agility results, each height class crowned a winner and the overall Masters title went to Prove-It, a Border Collie handled by Amber McCune, who finished with a time of 29.81 seconds while running in the 20-inch height class. Of note, last year’s winner Shelby Cobra, also handled by Amber, finished second (31.40) in the 20-inch height class. Iron Man, an All-American dog with handler Merritt Speagle, earned the highest-scoring All-American honor with a time of 29.60 seconds along with their win in the 16-inch height class. Gabby, a Papillon handled by Andrea Samuels, repeated as the 8-inch division winner with a time of 33.42 seconds. Nimble, an All-American dog with handler Cynthia Hornor, took the 12-inch class in 29.19 seconds. At 24″, Gerard the Poodle, handled by John Pittman, captured first place with a time of 36.55 seconds. Note that TWO dogs ran faster than the overall winner, and Sarah will take you through the math on that later.
That poodle was fantastic to watch and beautifully groomed, and as my daughter Hannah, who happens to be a poodle fan, said, “That was really pretty,” as Gerard worked the weaves.
Several of our VIP members ran in these Finals, including instructor and podcast co-host Jennifer Crank, who finished 2nd in the 16″ division with Bee (who also finished 2nd last year) and 9th in the 20″ division with her Border Collie Hi5. On this week’s podcast, we were joined by overall Masters Agility Champion Amber McCune, who also discussed her experiences and impressions from the event.
Those results naturally led into a broader conversation on the podcast. We talked about course design and the experience of running at this year’s venue, especially compared to past Westminster agility locations, which have included the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the grounds of the Lyndhurst mansion, Pier 94, and now the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Each of those spaces had its own feel, its own challenges, and its own impact on competitors.
Amber and Jennifer also spoke candidly about the turf used at Westminster this year and how it compared to previous surfaces, as well as the overall competitor experience. We touched on the disappointing removal of the tradition of presenting agility winners at Madison Square Garden later in the week—a moment that for many competitors used to provide meaningful visibility and recognition for the sport.
If you want to hear the full discussion, including course design, venue comparisons, and candid thoughts from the competitors themselves, you can listen to the episode here:
https://baddogagility.com/episode-378-westminster-masters-agility-champion-amber-mccune/
FOX Sports Fail
One more thing that came up for me after reading the official FOX Sports story on the Masters Agility Championship is how the coverage continues, for the second year in a row, to describe the Finals course as though it is directly comparable or repeatable from year to year. That’s just plain wrong! Here’s the offending quote:
The article in question can be found here:
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/westminster-kennel-club/2026-wkc-dog-show-prove-it-border-collie-wins-masters-agility-championship
Every agility course is different. The layout, the challenges, the sequences, and therefore the strategies and times are unique each year. There is no baseline or standardized course where “improving time” is even a meaningful concept across years. Suggesting that one course’s times are directly comparable to another’s is like comparing marathon finish times run on completely different courses and elevations as if they were interchangeable. It misunderstands what is actually being tested.
That kind of language is disappointing coming from a major sports broadcaster. Agility is not a standardized time trial. It is a problem-solving sport, and the problem to be solved changes every time.
If agility is going to be elevated responsibly in broader sports media, the coverage has to reflect the fundamental nature of the sport, rather than borrowing language that works for other competitions but does not actually fit agility.
Westminster Math
Sarah here! The overall Masters Agility Championship score is calculated by taking the course yardage for a dog’s true jump height and dividing it by the dog’s score, which is based on the dog’s running time plus any course or time faults. We’ve talked before about the limitations of this method, and honestly, there is no great way to directly compare dogs of different jump heights. We have different jump heights for a reason.
That said, we all know the rules when we enter, and there have been non-20″ dogs that have overcome the yards-per-second handicap to win the overall title. So what follows is less a critique of the system and more an academic “what if.”
First, let’s take a look at the actual results:
| Jump Height | Course Yards | Winning Time | Yards Per Second |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4″ (Gabby) | 183 | 33.42 | 5.476 |
| 12″ (Nimble) | 183 | 29.19 | 6.269 |
| 16″ (Iron Man) | 188 | 29.60 | 6.351 |
| 20″ (Prove-It) | 193 | 29.81 | 6.474 |
| 24″ (Gerald) | 193 | 36.55 | 5.280 |
By yards per second, Prove-It won the overall title with a YPS of 6.474 and a time of 29.81 seconds, even though two other dogs recorded faster raw times. Iron Man (16″) won their height class with a time of 29.60 seconds, which is 0.21 seconds faster than Prove-It. Nimble (12″) won their height class with the fastest time of the event at 29.19 seconds, 0.41 seconds faster than Iron Man and 0.62 seconds faster than Prove-It.
Using algebra, we can determine what running time would have been required at each height class to match Prove-It’s 6.474 yards per second.
| Jump Height | Course Yards | Time to Win Overall | Must Beat 20″ By | Yards Per Second |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8″ | 183 | 28.27 | 1.54 | 6.474 |
| 12″ | 183 | 28.27 | 1.54 | 6.474 |
| 16″ | 188 | 29.04 | 0.77 | 6.474 |
| 20″ (Prove-It) | 193 | 29.81 | N/A | 6.474 |
| 24″ | 193 | 29.81 | 0 | 6.474 |
Final 2025 Power Rankings
This week, the final 2025 Power Rankings were released. These rankings cover the entire 2025 year and rank dogs based on average yards per second. Congratulations to all the teams who made the list. I know that for many teams, this is something they aspire to each year, and we’re honored to shine a spotlight on so many talented teams across all breeds and heights.
BDA Podcast App Retired
If you’ve been using our Bad Dog Agility Podcast app, you may have noticed that it no longer updates. Unfortunately, the app was provided by our podcast hosting company, and they are discontinuing that feature. I apologize to those of you who enjoyed using the app, but there are still plenty of good options for listening. You can subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Spotify. And as always, we appreciate a good rating and review!
If you were at Westminster, I’d love to hear about your experience—email me at team@baddogagility.com.
Happy Training,
