USA Shooting athletes racked up a total of five team world championship titles at the 2023 International Shooting Sports Federation World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, bringing America’s total medal count to 10.
The five team gold medals were earned in the Men’s Trap Team, Women’s 50m Rifle 3-Position Team, Mixed Skeet Team, Men’s Skeet Team and the Women’s Skeet Team events.
Will Hinton, Derrick Mein and Derek Haldeman became the Men’s Trap Team World Champions August 24 after their combined qualification scores put them above the other 33 teams. The trio’s final accumulated score was 368/375, besting the Italian team with 367/375.
In addition, Hinton and Mein qualified and competed in the Men’s Trap individual final. Hinton made his World Championship finals debut and finished in fourth place. As for Mein, he was close behind Hinton for fifth place in the overall standings.
Olympic quotas were also on the line for many countries during the finals, but the U.S. Men’s Trap athletes have already fulfilled their allotted quota spots.
Mein earned the first Men’s Trap quota spot at the 2022 ISSF World Championship when he claimed the gold. Hinton earned the final quota at the 2022 Championship of the Americas Games when he was crowned overall champion.
The Women’s 50m Rifle 3-Position Team World Champion title was earned by Sagen Maddalena, Mary Tucker and Sarah Beard. Their three qualification scores not only earned them gold, but also set a new team world record of 1774-102X. The trio’s individual scores were Maddalena with 594-42X, Tucker 592-32X and Beard 588-28X.
Maddalena also earned bronze in Women’s 50m Rifle 3-Position, placing her on the podium after finishing fourth in the event last year. Her fourth-place finish in 2022 earned the United States a quota slot for the Paris 2024 Olympics in the same event.
Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith topped the podium in Mixed Skeet Team. Their qualification score of 149/150 set a new world record. The American duo outshot the Ukrainian team in the gold medal match.
Hancock, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, teamed up with Dustan Taylor and Christian Elliott to win the World Champion title in the Men’s Skeet Team event. With a combined score of 369/375, they triumphed over the team from Greece, which had to settle for the silver medal.
Smith also upped her gold medal count after helping Dania Vizzi and Samantha Simonton earn the World Champion title in Women’s Skeet Team. The trio set a new world record with their score of 365/375, besting the Italian team who finished second.
All three women went on to make the final in the individual Women’s Skeet event. Vizzi earned silver, edging out Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece, who finished third. Vizzi, and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia were the final two women standing and battled for the World Championship title in a shoot-off. After 11 targets, Bartekova claimed the gold medal, and Vizzi the silver.
USA Shooting has a total of 10 2023 World Championship medals in the following events.
- Gold in Men’s Trap Team: Will Hinton, Derrick Mein and Derek Haldeman
- Gold in Men’s Skeet Team: Vincent Hancock, Christian Elliott and Dustan Taylor
- Gold in Mixed Skeet Team and a new world record: Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith
- Gold in Women’s Skeet Team and a new world record: Dania Vizzi, Austen Smith and Samantha Simonton
- Gold and a new world record in Women’s 50m Rifle 3-Position: Sagen Maddalena, Sarah Beard and Mary Tucker
- Silver in Women’s Skeet: Dania Vizzi
- Silver in Mixed Trap Team: Rachel Tozier and Derrick Mein
- Bronze in Women’s 50m Rifle 3-Position: Sagen Maddalena
- Bronze in both 300m Standard Rifle Open and Men’s 300m Prone Rifle: Tim Sherry
Learn more about USA Shooting at usashooting.org.
Most Popular
