Paris Olympics 2024: Vincent Hancock brings home gold for USA in men's skeet

Vincent Hancock missed his Tokyo Olympic record by a single point at Paris.

Vincent Hancock earned a historic fourth skeet men Olympic title at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre during Paris Olympics 2024 after overhauling his 24-year-old team-mate and sometime protégé Conner Prince in the final sequence of four shots. For much of the final it seemed as if Prince would beat his mentor to gold. But Prince remains the Prince; and Vincent Hancock remains the King.

For the United States, who had only secured one medal in Olympic shooting competition before this final – the silver won in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions by Sagen Maddalena – it was a day to remember.

Once Chinese Taipei’s Asian champion Lee Meng Yuan had departed as bronze medallist with a total of 45 out of 50, the two Americans remained, tied on 48, with ten more scheduled shots to go.

Until this point Vincent Hancock knew he could not afford to remain level with his main rivals, who all had superior bib numbers. He had finished only fourth in the morning’s qualification on 123 out of 125 as Prince, Tammaro Cassandra of Italy and Lee finished in that order as all jointly equalled the Olympic Qualification record of 124.

Also read: Paris Olympics 2024: Korea’s Yang Jiin shoots her way to gold in women’s 25m pistol

Once the gold medal remained to be decided over the final 10 shots, however, the bib numbers no longer obtained in the event of level scores; it was all to shoot for. And Vincent Hancock, ice cold in the heat and tension, showed once again what a superlative Olympian he is.

With four shots to go, both were on 54. Prince went first, and missed the first of his final four efforts. Four out of four would secure another gold for the 35-year-old who had stood atop the podium at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.

And four out of four hits were secured. As he registered his victory this great champion seemed momentarily electrified by his achievement.

Like a great middle distance runner, he had remained in touch with the lead and then sprinted clear at the final moment. The two team-mates soon embraced as the flags flurried in the stands.

Vincent Hancock had hit 28 clays in a row before he showed he was human by producing his first miss, and another five shots later put his ambitions in doubt. But there was never a flicker of weakness thereafter as the pressure gradually told on each of his opponents.

Nicolas Pacheco Espinosa of Peru was the first of the six finalists to make his exit, and looked devastated to do so. Next out was Sweden’s Stefan Nilsson, sixth at Tokyo 2020 and making his fourth Games appearance.

Cassandro was in the thick of it until the later stages, when his form fell away with three misses in the space of five effort, and he left in fourth place.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram