COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (May 7, 2019)
More than 360 athletes from 58 nations have made their way once again to Changwon, South Korea to compete in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup that begins Thursday. Twelve USA Shooting Team athletes are among them including Olympic gold medalists Kim Rhode, Vincent Hancock and Glenn Eller.
The U.S. is still searching for three all-important Olympic quotas with one qualification spot still left to obtain in Women’s Trap and two in Men’s Trap. Both quotas in Men’s and Women’s Skeet have been secured.
You’ll for sure want to tune in Friday, May 10 as the six-time Olympic medalist Rhode (El Monte, California) stands on the precipice of history yet again. If she wins this World Cup, that would make four straight World Cup victories, a feat no other female in the history of the sport has accomplished and she would also be the first shotgun competitor (male or female) to do so as well. Since a record sixth straight Olympic medal in Rio, all she’s done is earn 11 international medals since, including nine gold.
She’s proven she knows how to win on this range as well having won a World Cup here last year while also finishing runner-up here at last year’s World Championships to her teammate Caitlin Connor. She’ll face tough competition as always and that includes from her own teammates as reigning two-time National Champion Dania Vizzi (Odessa, Florida) and 2017 World Champion is competing as is two-time Junior World Championships medalist Austen Smith (Keller, Texas).
Based on proven results lately, if Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) is attending a World Cup, he’s the definitive favorite to win. It’s been that way since 2008 and even more so of late. The last time Hancock finished something other than first in a World Cup he attended dates back before the 2016 Olympic Games. His streak is four-straight World Cup victories in which he has attended and then you include an impressive fourth world title taken on the same range last year that he’ll compete on beginning Friday. The former U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) competitor, Hancock will have current USAMU soldier-athletes Phillip Jungman (Caldwell, Texas) and Christian Elliott (Greenville, Indiana) competing alongside him. Jungman finished 17th in Changwon during last year’s World Cup while Elliott will be competing in just his second World Cup and the first since 2017 where he finished 31st in Larnaca, Cyprus.
Five-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Glenn Eller (USAMU/Katy, Texas) leads the U.S. men into trap competition. In the two World Cup events he’s competed in since making the switch from the Double Trap discipline, Eller has finished 15th and 45th, the last result in Changwon a year ago. He’ll be joined by Brian Burrows (Fallbrook, California) and his USAMU teammate Derek Haldeman (Sunbury, Ohio). Burrows is the last American to win a World Cup medal in this event, dating back to 2013 in Acapulco. Haldeman finished fifth at the 2017 World Championships, the highest finish for the U.S. in this event at the World Championship since 2006 when Bret Erickson won bronze. Men’s Trap begins Wednesday, May 15.
Ashley Carroll (Solvang, California) will lead the charge in Women’s Trap. Competing here at World Championships last year she finished 14th with a 32nd-place result at the World Cup event here as well. Her teammates will include two World Cup rookies making their international debut, the USAMU’s Rachel Tozier (Liberty, Missouri) and Alicia Gough (Burlington, Wisconsin). Tozier finished third and Gough fifth at the 2019 Spring Selection Match to earn their invites. Women’s Trap begins Tuesday, May 14.
Haldeman and Carroll will team up in the Mixed Team Trap event where they finished third at the 2017 World Championships, while Burrows and Tozier will work together in pursuit of a podium spot. The team event will take place Friday, May 17.
Finals will be broadcast live on the ISSF website at https://www.issf-sports.org/ (Changwon is 13 hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern Time Zone). View the schedule and follow along with live results: http://bit.ly/2DNq6B9