Team USA’s Vincent Hancock won the gold medal in the Men’s Skeet event on Saturday, August 3, the second medal for the U.S. in shooting events thus far at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Right behind Hancock was his teammate and training partner Connor Prince, who finished second in the event and earned the silver medal, giving the U.S. a one-two podium finish in the event and a third medal overall for USA Shooting.
Hancock is now the sixth athlete in history to ever win the same individual Olympic event four times—joining the likes of Al Oerter (USA, discus), Paul Elvstrom (Denmark, sailing), Carl Lewis (USA, long jump), Michael Phelps (USA, men’s 200m intermediate relay), Mijain Lopez (Cuba, heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling), as well as the fourth American to do so (and the first in shooting), after Oerter, Lewis and Phelps.
Hancock entered today’s Men’s Skeet final in fourth place after hitting 123 of 125 targets over two days of qualification. He excelled in qualification, only missing one target in round four and another single target in round five.
As for Prince, he exited Men’s Skeet qualification in first place after winning a three-way shoot-off with 124+12, giving him the top spot on the leaderboard going into the final.
In the Men’s Skeet final on Saturday, which was a thriller for the ages, Hancock defeated Prince on the last four clays for a total of 58 against Prince’s score of 57.
For Men’s and Women’s Skeet at the Olympics, only the top six shooters in qualification advance to the final, which has athletes initially firing at a series of 20 targets. The six competitors in the final shoot double targets. After all six of the finalists complete the first 20 targets, elimination begins with sixth place, continuing for consecutive 10-target stages until a winner is decided.
Hancock earned his first Olympic gold medal at his first Beijing 2008 Games at the tender age of 19, which marked his Olympic debut. He followed that up with another Men’s Skeet gold medal at the London 2012 Games, then set a new Men’s Skeet Olympic record at the Tokyo 2020 Games after hitting 59 of the 60 targets in the final. Additionally, in Tokyo, Hancock became the first skeet shooter in history to win three Olympic gold medals, with today’s victory in France adding a fourth to his tally.
Next up for Hancock at the Paris 2024 Olympics is Mixed Team Skeet, an event where he will pair with fellow Team USA Shooter Austen Smith. If the duo secures a podium finish in this event, Hancock will be the first U.S. shooter to earn two medals at the same Olympic Games since 1964. Additionally, Prince will compete in Mixed Team Skeet with U.S. teammate Dania Vizzi.
See below for a full recap of the Men’s Skeet final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
For the initial 10 targets, Prince, who went first in the final, firing at station three, missed his fourth target. He was then perfect for the next six shots to end the first series with nine of 10 targets.
Hancock, the fourth seed and fourth shooter, was perfect in the first 10-shot series.
After the first series of shooting, three Men’s Skeet finalists were perfect, Hancock, Tammaro Cassandro of Italy and Meng Yuan Lee of Taiwan.
In the next series of four shots, Prince was perfect, along with Hancock and the other four finalists.
Next, athletes shot one pair at station four. Prince and Hancock made all their targets, with Prince now at 15 of 16, and Hancock with a perfect 16 and locked in a tie for first place with Cassandro.
The next four shots would determine the first elimination.
Prince finished his first 20 shots with only one miss, while Hancock was 20 for 20, giving him the top ranking thus far in the final with a clear one point advantage. Prince was ranked second behind Hancock. Nicolas Pacheco of Peru was eliminated first with 17 of 20 and in sixth place for the final.
Prince then made his next four shots, now with 23 of 24. Hancock also went four for four, retaining his perfect 24 of 24 score. In fact, all five shooters were perfect for these four targets.
As for the next two shots, athletes were at station four facing a high and low bird. Prince shattered both, as did Hancock and the rest of the pack, with the exception of Stefan Nilsson of Sweden, who missed his last target and was now two points behind Lee with 23.
For the next four shots, Prince again nailed all of them, now with a 29 of 30 score. Hancock missed his first target, dropping to fourth place with 29 of 30 targets, as well as giving Prince and Cassandro a tie for the lead. Nilsson was eliminated with a score of 27.
Prince was perfect for his next four shots, with 33 of 34. Hancock, however missed his fourth, dropping down to third place. Cassandro missed two of his four targets, with Lee missing one as well.
In the next high-low series, Prince was perfect, now with 35 of 36 targets. Hancock also hit both targets, now with 34 of 36. Prince retained the lead and Hancock was in third.
At station five, Prince went four for four, now at 39 of 40 targets. Hancock was also perfect and jumped to second place with 38 of 40 targets, one behind Prince. Lee was in third place with 37 of 40, while Cassandro was eliminated to finish in fourth place.
Prince missed shot 44, only his second miss of the final so far, with a score of 42 of 44. Hancock, showcasing his experience, was again perfect in this series.
Next, Prince hit both his targets, now with 44 of 46. Hancock was also perfect. Lee was three hits behind.
Now at station five, the next four shots would determine the bronze medal. Prince went four for four, as did Hancock. Lee earned the bronze medal with 45 of 50, which marked the first overall medal for Taiwan at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Now the two Americans had to battle it out for the gold medal. Prince and Hancock were flawless for their next four shots, both tied at 52 of 54.
At station four they faced one pair each. Prince was perfect, as was Hancock, both now with 54 of 56. Both American shooters had now hit 12 consecutive targets at this point.
For about as dramatic of a finish as you can get in competitive shooting and at the Olympics, Prince missed his first shot in the next series, recovering with the next three to have 57 of 58. Hancock, however hit all four birds to win the gold medal with 58 of 60.
Keep checking back with Shooting Sports USA for the latest Paris 2024 Olympics news and updates.
