Vincent Hancock is still setting the standard. Samantha Simonton is now setting hers. The two American shotgunners stood atop the podium on Sunday, Oct. 12, at the 2025 ISSF World Championship Shotgun, as the United States swept the men’s and women’s individual skeet events at the Malakasa Shooting Range outside Athens.
For Hancock, it was another dominant performance in a legendary competition shooting career. The four-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning icon of the sport captured his fifth individual ISSF world title, missing just one target in qualification (124/125) and only one more in the final to finish with 59 out of 60.
Hancock was competing in a final against Egypt’s Azmy Mehelba, who beat Hancock in the 2022 final. Mehelba fell short this time after dropping five targets.
Hancock is sponsored by Federal Ammunition.
“These gold medals further cement Hancock’s status as one of the sport’s greatest athletes,” said Jason Nash, Federal’s Vice President of Marketing. “This victory adds to Hancock’s extensive list of accomplishments, including four Olympic gold medals. We, at Federal, always look forward to seeing more continued success and his outstanding international performances.”
The men’s skeet team event brought more gold for Team USA. Hancock, alongside Christian Elliott and Connor Prince, tallied 365 points—two ahead of Italy—to win the men’s skeet team title. Elliott placed seventh individually; Prince, the Paris 2024 men’s skeet silver medalist, finished 33rd but contributed in qualification to edge the Americans past their rivals.
On the women’s side, 25-year-old Samantha Simonton capped off her breakout season with the first ISSF World Championship title of her career. She hit 122 of 125 targets in qualification to top the standings and backed it up with 57 of 60 targets in the final, holding off Mexico’s Gabriela Rodriguez (54) and Sweden’s Victoria Larsson (44).
With her win, Simonton now adds a ISSF World Championship gold medal to a 2025 campaign that already included one World Cup gold and two silvers.
Simonton was joined in the women’s skeet team event by six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode and Paris 2024 Olympian Dania Vizzi, and the trio clinched another team gold with a total score of 358, comfortably ahead of Cyprus (349) and Slovakia (348).
For Team USA, the sweep of the men’s and women’s individual and team skeet events marked one of its most successful ISSF World Championships in recent memory—and a reminder of its continued depth in the shotgun disciplines.
As of Friday, Oct. 17, the US leads the overall medal count at the 2025 ISSF World Championship Shotgun with five medals, four golds and one silver. You can see the full results at the ISSF website.
Learn more about USA Shooting at usashooting.org.
