COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (April 29, 2018)
One thing’s for sure - Vincent Hancock is back.
After taking the 2017 season off, the two-time Olympic gold medalist picked up his second gold medal in as many World Cups this season when he won the Men’s Skeet competition on the final day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, South Korea.
En route to his ninth World Cup gold medal, Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) finished with the highest score in Qualification (123/125 targets). Once in the Final, he would then go on to equal the World Record just as he did when he won the World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March, only dropping one target for 59/60 hits.
“The plan is to be the best shooter at every competition, on every station, on every target, right up to when it will matter the most, Tokyo 2020,” Hancock told the ISSF. “This range is fantastic. I shot here in 2005 and it’s changed and improved a lot. This match has been a useful training for the ISSF World Championship to be held here in September, when the first [Olympic] quotas will be assigned.”
Taking silver with 55 hits was reigning Olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti of Italy and winning bronze was Juan Jose Aramburu of Spain.
Watch the video of the Men’s Skeet Final: https://youtu.be/iV9EFlUysKY.
Phillip Jungman (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit/Caldwell Texas) finished in 17th place, two hits out of a potential Finals berth (119 hits). Dustan Taylor (USAMU/Staley, North Carolina) finished in 51st place (115 hits). Christian Elliott (USAMU/Greenwood, Indiana) was shooting in a Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) position (ineligible for Finals or placement) where he registered 122 hits during the match, enough to have qualified him for the Finals.
The U.S. won three medals at this World Cup. In addition to Hancock’s win, Kim Rhode won gold and Amber English won bronze in the Women’s Skeet competition. Read the recap: http://www.usashooting.org/news/2018/4/ ... -world-cup.
View complete results from the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, South Korea: http://www.issf-sports.org/competitions ... hipid=2391.
*Photo courtesy of ISSF