Team USA’s Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith picked up a gold medal in the Skeet Mixed Team event at the 2024 ISSF Lonato World Cup on Tuesday, June 18.
The two USA Shooting shotgun athletes defeated the Kuwaiti team of Abdullah Alrashidi and Eman Al Shamaa in the Skeet Mixed Team final, 44-41. During the final, Hancock shattered 23 of 24 targets, only missing his final shot, while Smith went 21 for 24.
An article published to the International Shooting Sports Federation website described Hancock’s performance in the Skeet Mixed Team final as “almost flawless.”
After qualification, the team of Hancock and Smith led the 30-team field after winning the shoot-off, entering the Skeet Mixed Team final in first place.
At last year’s ISSF World Championship, also held in Lonato, Italy, the duo of Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith secured the gold medal in the same event.
The 35-year-old Hancock, a three-time Men’s Skeet Olympic gold medalist, will have the opportunity to win a fourth gold medal in the event at the upcoming Paris 2024 Games. He previously won the event at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 Games. If he earns a fourth Men’s Skeet gold medal at the Paris 2024 Games, Hancock will become only the sixth athlete in history (and the fourth American) to win the same individual Olympic event four times.
Additionally, the Skeet Mixed Team event will make its Olympic debut at the Paris 2024 Games. Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith will be competing in that event for a chance to earn another medal for the U.S.
In an interview with ISSF TV, the 22-year-old Smith said, “We are hoping for gold in Paris too, fingers crossed, although we are happy for medals in any appearances. It’s a brand new event for the Olympics and we feel we are made for this event, as the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Skeet teams are extremely strong. We [are] ready to make history. We love shooting together and it’s such a pleasure to repeat our World Cup win here last year.”
This isn’t the only hardware earned by Smith in Lonato this week. At the ISSF Lonato World Cup on Monday, June 17, Smith picked up a bronze medal in the Women’s Skeet event with a score of 45 of 60 targets. The silver medalist was her USA Shooting teammate Dania Vizzi, who went 56 for 60 targets in the final, finishing only one point behind the gold-medal winner, Diana Bacosi of Italy. In addition, Team USA's Conner Prince earned silver in the Men’s Skeet final after hitting 53 of 60 targets, walking away from the match only one point behind the gold medalist, Jesper Hansen of Denmark.
You can see the full results of the 2024 ISSF Lonato World Cup at the ISSF website.
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