Olympic-Bound Vincent Hancock Wins Skeet Silver Medal At ISSF World Cup Italy

Competing against a field of 125 shooters, Team USA’s Vincent Hancock secured the silver medal in the Men’s Skeet event at the 2021 ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Lonato, Italy, on Monday, May 10. His final score was 55 out of 60.

Hancock waves to the crowd after winning the silver medal in Men's Skeet.

After the two-time Olympic medalist advanced to the final, Egypt’s Azmy Mehelba scored a 56 out of 60, which was enough to beat Hancock’s 55 score and win the Men’s Skeet gold medal.

Here is what Hancock said to ISSF officials after the final.

“It’s [a] pleasure to be here at my the first World Cup of the year. It’s a beautiful place and I’m happy to compete with all my friends and teammates. I’m happy to win the [silver] medal today and now I’ll concentrate on the next two days. We have Team events coming up and Mixed Team as well, and I’m really exited.”

The Men’s Skeet final was held immediately after the Women’s Skeet final, where Hancock’s protégé and fellow Team USA shooter Austen Smith won the gold medal after her own duel with Amber Hill of Great Britain. The ISSF livestreamed this event, along with many others taking place during the competition, via YouTube and the ISSF Facebook page. Following Hancock’s silver medal-winning performance in Lonato del Garda, Italy, on Monday, Team USA took the lead in the medal count.

Hancock competes in the Men's Skeet final at the 2021 ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Italy.

In addition to Hancock’s second place finish with 55 out of 60 targets, the top Men’s Skeet performances came from the aforementioned gold medal winner Azmy Mehelba of Egypt (56), bronze medalist Tammaro Cassandro of Italy (45), Nicolas Pacheco Espinosa of Peru (35), Emin Jafarov of Azerbaijan (25) and Luigi Lodde of Italy (15).

Last March, Hancock secured his spot on the U.S. Olympic Team headed to Tokyo for the Summer Olympic Games after winning the 2020 USA Shooting Skeet Trials. He competes with a Beretta DT11 shotgun and Federal competition loads.

More than 400 athletes from 63 nations and five continents are competing at the 2021 ISSF World Cup Shotgun in Italy. The match will conclude on Monday, May 17. Visit the ISSF website for more information.

All photos/screengrabs courtesy of ISSF/Facebook.