After shooting international skeet for the first time at the age of 12, Vincent Hancock told his parents he was going to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal. Now at age 34, Hancock has achieved that goal not only once, but three times.
Hancock was introduced to the sport of shooting through his dad, Craig Hancock, who was a competitive shooter. His dad coached a 4H team and Hancock often accompanied him to the practices. When Hancock was 10 years old, he shot his first round of skeet just east of Atlanta. He moved on to sporting clays and then was introduced to international skeet, the Olympic discipline.
“I shot really well my first day and thought ‘This is fun I can do this,’” Hancock, a three-time Olympic gold medalist said. “The next day I shot terrible but on the drive home I told my parents ‘I want to go to the Olympics, and I want to win a gold medal.’”
Twenty-three years later, Hancock is still going strong on his Olympic journey. He is working to qualify for his fifth Olympic Games, this time in Paris, France.
Hancock has experienced four Olympic Games, each journey unique in its own way. He started his Olympic gold medal collection at his first Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in 2008 when he was just 19 years old.
“It was just a rush of emotions,” Hancock said about winning his first Olympic gold medal. “It was a dream come true. It was something I had worked for since I was 12 years old. I was expected to win, and I expected myself to win, but at the same time accomplishing that feat was something that is hard to put into words.”
Hancock earned his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in Men’s Skeet at the London 2012 Games where he was accompanied by not only his wife, but also his two young daughters. Hancock’s second gold medal made him the first Olympic Skeet shooter to win gold medals in the same event at back-to-back Olympic Games. His third Olympic Games was Rio 2016 where he placed 15th.
“Rio was different,” Hancock, a three-time Pan American Games Champion said. “It didn’t feel the same and it was hard for me.”
Hancock elaborated about the process he went through after his performance in Rio. He reflected on the reason he got into the sport in the first place—for the love of the game. He mentioned that if he is going to keep doing this for the rest of his career, he wanted it to be fun.
“I was trying to understand what went wrong for me and figure out why,” Hancock, a four-time World Champion said. “I knew there were a lot of expectations, but I have always had a lot of expectations. I had to come to the understanding of ‘Why am I doing this? I am doing this because at 10 years old I found something that I loved.’ I needed to make sure that I enjoyed every moment of the process that I can.”
With a new outlook on his shooting career, Hancock went into the next Olympic quad and qualified for the Tokyo Games. After being postponed a year due to covid and the pandemic, Hancock earned his third Olympic gold medal in 2021. His fourth Olympic experience was unique given the circumstance of the world at the time.
“Tokyo was vastly different because of covid,” Hancock, a two-time Championship of the Americas Games Champion said. “No one was allowed to be there. There was no family, no friends, nothing except for teammates, so we had a pretty close team.”
Hancock set a new Olympic record in Tokyo where he hit 59 of the 60 targets in the final. He also became the first skeet shooter to win three Olympic gold medals.
Only three years after the Tokyo Games, Hancock is on his way to qualify for the next Olympics in Paris.
If he qualifies for Paris 2024, Hancock will have the opportunity to win two medals. For the first time ever, the Olympic games will host the event of Mixed Team Skeet where a team of one woman and one man compete on a team together representing their county. Mixed team was introduced at the Tokyo 2020 Games for trapshooting.
“With our women’s program being the best in the world, as long as I do what I need to do, we have a really good chance at getting a medal,” Hancock, an Eatonton, Georgia, native said. “I am really excited about it.”
Hancock is currently tied for first place overall with Conner Prince in the trial’s selection process for Paris 2024. His preparation for competitions like the trials doesn’t change despite the magnitude of the results.
“It is always the same,” Hancock said. “My expectations are perfection. That’s what I expect in practice, that’s what I expect in the competition. For me, it’s going through every day and trying to focus on little bits and pieces of myself. ‘What can I do perfect every time?’”
Hancock uses a mental checklist to ensure his process of perfection—a checklist that has gotten smaller and smaller over the years.
“I know that if I accomplish this small checklist, I will hit every target,” Hancock said. “I am just trying to check off that checklist for each and every shot. That leads me to the best opportunity to succeed.”
His success has been apparent throughout his career and in the few years since the Tokyo Games. In 2023 alone, he earned six medals internationally including his third Pan American Games title. This year, he has already earned two international medals, both at the International Shooting Sports Federation World Cup in Rabat, Morocco.
When Hancock is not busy winning medals, he is running his shooting range, North Lake Shooting Sports, which he opened in 2023.
“I’m trying to find a way to pass on what has taken me out of the middle of nowhere Georgia to traveling and competing in 28 different countries now,” Hancock, who is a co-owner of the range said. “[Traveling for competitions] has expanded my horizons and my understanding of different cultures. I want to be able to provide that opportunity for other kids.”
North Lake Shooting Sports is youth centric and has almost 500 kids shooting there weekly. Hancock coaches at the range, along with a few other USA Shooting athletes, including Katie Jacob and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Brian Burrows.
Hancock’s coaching has not only helped grow youth shooting sports but has improved his shooting game as well.
“I get to see what happens, especially with athletes I have worked with for long periods of time. They shoot very similarly to me,” Hancock said. “I have to diagnose them, and it helps me diagnose myself a lot faster too.”
This quad, which has been cut down to three years due to the delay of the Tokyo Games, Hancock has stayed on the top of his game even in the midst of opening and running a range.
He will be competing in the U.S Olympic Trials-Shotgun Part Two in Tucson, Arizona, at the Tucson Trap and Skeet Club this March. He will be looking to qualify in one of the two spots for the Paris 2024 Men’s Skeet team.
“I love every one of those (Olympic) experiences because they are each their own,” Hancock said. “I am looking forward to getting back to normalcy again and hopefully being able to make the team for Paris. If I do, if I am lucky enough to make my fifth team, I will have both my girls and my wife there and we are going to have a good time enjoying the Olympic experience.”
Learn more about USA Shooting at usashooting.org.
