Hancock Wins Gold, Quota For U.S.

[USAS]

at Korea World Cup

CHANGWON, Korea -- Sixteen-year-old Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) won a gold medal in men’s skeet and an Olympic quota place for the U.S. at the Korea World Cup on Friday.

In his first World Cup ever, Hancock hit a 124, missing just one target in the qualification rounds. He then hit 25-straight in the final, finishing with a 149, three points above second place finisher Christian Eleuteri, of Italy. The outstanding performance by Hancock made him the current World Record, Finals World Record, and Junior World Record holder in men’s skeet.

In women’s skeet, Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa) and Connie Smotek (Lyons, Texas) both gave strong performances to get into the finals. Twenty-year-old Dunn was tied with three people for first with a 71 qualifying score, which also sets a new world record. Dunn hit a 21 in the final, for a fifth place finish, whereas her teammate, Smotek, went into the finals with a 70 and hit a 23 to tie for second with two other people. But, in the miss-and-out tiebreaker, Smotek hit two and finished in fourth. In first place, Ning Wei, of China, finished with a 94, also setting a new Finals World Record. Wei’s teammate, Cunmei Bao clinched second with a 93 and a seven in the tiebreaker. And, rounding out the top-three was Christine Brinker, of Germany, by hitting six-straight in the tiebreaker.

In the last event of the day, men’s 50m three-position, Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Tamas (Columbus, Ga.) finished in sixth place with a 1,252.5. Tamas closed out his qualifying rounds with a 1,158, and hit a 94.5 in the finals. Fu Zhang, of China, hit a 1,264.8 for the gold, while Claus Hildebrand, of Germany, hit a 1,263.5 for the silver.

For full results from the first World Cup of the season, please log on to www.issf-shooting.org. USA Shooting is recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) as the national governing body for the
Olympic and international shooting sports in the United States. To learn more about USA
Shooting, call them at (719) 866-4743 or visit their website at www.usashooting.com.