CHANGWON, South Korea (May 11, 2019)
Vincent Hancock and Christian Elliott enjoy taking home the top two spots on the podium for the first time for a U.S. Men's Skeet Team since 1993. It's been quite a 24 hours for America’s international skeet team. Three medals, two victories, a first-time World Cup medalist, historical precedence and a whole lot of the Red, White and Blue being raised at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Changwon, South Korea. And to think, it’s only day three.
One day after Kim Rhode’s latest triumph, Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) and Christian Elliott (Indiana) laid down another skeet masterpiece, consuming the top two spots on the podium. Hancock’s mastery of the sport continues as it was the fifth straight World Cup victory in which he’s been present and the sixth consecutive international victory overall when you factor in the world title he earned last year on this same range.
The year was 1993 the last time you saw the USA own the top two spots on a World Cup podium in skeet when Edward McCamish, Todd Graves and Bill Roy swept a World Cup event in Los Angeles. That’s the only other time since World Cup events began in 1986 that has happened.
The 30-year-old Hancock clinched his 12th overall World Cup victory at the same place he earned his first career victory. At this rate, local shooting officials in Changwon might think about renaming the range Hancock’s House. It is his second World Cup win of the year, after triumphing in Acapulco in March while earning three World Cup victories in 2018 as well.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist Hancock earned his way to the top podium spot Saturday by qualifying first with 123 targets and beating Elliott in a shoot-off, 10-9, to earn the top Finals position. Once in the Final, Hancock did what he’s been doing for much of his career and that’s dominate, leaving nothing to chance while connecting on 57 of the 60 Finals shots to outpace Elliott by four targets.
“Thank you God for the opportunity to do what I love,” Hancock proclaimed on his Instagram account. “Thank you to my wife and little girls at home that put up with me being gone so much and thank you to my sponsors that help make this dream a reality. I couldn’t do it without any of you!”
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) Sgt. Elliott (Greenville, Indiana) earned the silver medal in what was a first open final for the 21-year-old. He tied Hancock with the top Qualification mark with 123/125. It was quite the step up for someone competing in just his second career World Cup. His first came back in 2017 in Larnaca, Cyprus where he finished 31st.
“Congratulations to Christian for an amazing competition and for winning his first World Cup Medal,” added Hancock, a former USAMU team member himself. “He’s one of the best teammates, competitors and friends that somebody could ask for. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be there to witness his first medal of what I am SURE will be [many] in the future. Congrats again bro, you’re pretty dang awesome.”
Elliott’s USAMU teammate Phillip Jungman (Caldwell, Texas) placed 30th after shooting 119/125.
Kuwait’s Mansour Al Rashedi couldn’t manage to repeat his gold medal heroics in Al Ain last time out,but did take the bronze medal.
Although local favorite, Kang Hyun Suk was unable to win a medal, he did get an Olympic quota place for South Korea by finishing fourth, much to the home crowd’s delight.
The other quota place went to Lari Pesonen from Finland who finished fifth. Both Kang and Pesonen were appearing in their first final.
To fully recognize Team USA’s recent skeet dominance including three medals in Changwon, you only have to look at the impressive stats since Rio 2016 and the 15 international events in which the U.S. Team has competed. In those events, the U.S. Skeet team has achieved 41 medals, 26 coming at World Cups including (World Cup Finals & Jr. World Cup events) and 15 coming at the two World Championships (including Junior and Team events). U.S. Women have earned 27 of those medals overall, and let’s not forget that Hancock sat out the 2017 season altogether.
World Cup action in Changwon continues Tuesday with day one of Qualification in Women’s Trap.
Watch the Men’s Skeet Final -- https://www.facebook.com/ISSF.Shooting/ ... 682776834/
ISSF World Cup Changwon Results: http://bit.ly/2DNq6B9