COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (March 25, 2019)
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning World Champion Vincent Hancock showed once again why he’s “Vinny the Great.” He finished the Men’s Skeet competition at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico today with not only a perfect score in Qualification (125/125 targets) but went on to cap it off with a perfect score in the Final as well (60/60 targets).
Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) entered the Final as the only athlete to hit a perfect 125 targets over the two days of Qualification. Once in the Final, Hancock didn’t miss a single target to equal the world record and claim his 11th World Cup gold medal. The last time Hancock shot 125 in Qualification at a World Cup was also in Acapulco in 2015. Today also marked his first perfect 60/60 Final in international competition.
2016 Olympic gold medalist Gabriele Rossetti of Italy won the silver with 58 targets in the Final and Jakub Tomecek of the Czech Republic won the bronze with 49.
Two-time Olympian Frank Thompson (Alliance, Nebraska) finished in 31st place with 119 targets. Elijah Ellis (College Station, Texas) finished in 52nd place with 116 targets.
Olympic quotas were available in this event; however, the U.S. had already won the maximum number of Olympic quotas in Men’s Skeet when Hancock won the World Championship title last summer in Changwon, South Korea, and Thompson picked up the second quota with his gold-medal win at the Championship of the Americas in November in Guadalajara, Mexico. Shotgun athletes will then earn slots on the U.S. Olympic Team via a trials system which can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/2Y1GFla.
USA Shooting athletes also medaled last Wednesday when Kayle Browning (Wooster, Arkansas) and Brian Burrows (Fallbrook, California) won silver in the Trap Mixed Team event. They set a Qualification World Record of 149/150 targets en route to their silver medal. Six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode (El Monte, California) also picked up her 19th World Cup gold medal with her win in Women’s Skeet yesterday.
More than 350 athletes from 61 countries competed at this World Cup that concluded today.
Complete results: https://www.issf-sports.org/competition ... hipid=2541.