Eight shotgun U.S. athletes have earned their spot on the Team USA roster to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, scheduled for July 26 to August 11. The U.S. shotgun athletes heading to France this summer are Vincent Hancock, Conner Prince, Austen Smith, Dania Vizzi, Derrick Mein, Will Hinton, Rachel Tozier and Ryann Phillips.
SKEET
Vincent Hancock of Eatonton, Georgia, qualified in Men’s Skeet and is looking to make history at the Paris 2024 Games. A four-time Olympian, Hancock is also a three-time Olympic gold medalist (Beijing 2008, London, 2012 and Tokyo 2020). If he earns a fourth gold medal in Paris, Hancock will become the sixth athlete ever to win the same individual Olympic event four times and only the fourth American to do so after Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps (and the first in shooting). In addition, Hancock will be competing in Mixed Team Skeet with teammate Austen Smith, an event making its Olympic debut in Paris this year.
Conner Prince of Burleson, Texas, is joining Hancock on the U.S. Men’s Skeet Olympic team. Paris will mark his Olympic debut, where Prince will also compete in Mixed Skeet Team with teammate Dania Vizzi. He saw an impressive season in 2023 after winning two medals at the ISSF World Cup Rabat. Prince got his start in the sport of shooting through his high school’s Spartan Clay Target team and, in 2018, Hancock became Prince’s coach. Hancock now trains and coaches Prince and Smith at his North Lake Shooting Sports Range in north Texas.
As for Austen Smith, who is from Keller, Texas, she will be making her second Olympic appearance in Paris this summer. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian qualified for Paris in Women’s Skeet. She will also pair up with Hancock in Mixed Skeet Team in pursuit of winning two medals at the Paris 2024 Games. Smith—who is currently studying aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington—has been on fire in the international shotgun scene. She earned two gold medals at the 2023 ISSF World Championships, (Women’s Skeet Team and Mixed Skeet Team) and a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games. Most recently Smith was crowned champion in the Women’s Skeet event at the 2024 ISSF Baku World Cup.
Dania Vizzi, an Odessa, Florida, native, is making her first Olympic appearance in Paris. Vizzi qualified in Women’s Skeet and will also be competing in Mixed Skeet Team with Conner Prince. Vizzi actually grew up dancing competitively and turned down an offer for the Juilliard Dance Intensive to focus on her shooting sports career. Vizzi has excelled in the international scene since then, racking up more than 20 international medals, including world champion in 2017 and World Cup champion in 2023. Vizzi, who attended the University of Florida, is looking to add an Olympic medal to her impressive hardware collection.
TRAP
Derrick Mein of Paola, Kansas, is making his second Olympic appearance in Paris for Men’s Trap. The 2022 world champion made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Mein grew up hunting with his family and began shooting sporting clays at eight years old. He earned a dual scholarship for the baseball and shotgun team at Lindenwood University, where he was introduced to the international style of trap and skeet shooting. Later he transferred and graduated from Kansas State, soon after finding himself competing on the international stage. Mein has earned medals at World Cups, World Championships and Championships of the Americas.
Will Hinton of Dacula, Georgia, is making his Olympic debut in Paris in Men’s Trap. Hinton became familiar with firearms and firearms safety from a young age as he grew up in a family of avid bird hunters and his dad was a bird dog trainer. He competed for the first time in 2007 and made the USA Shooting Junior World Team in 2013. A few years later, Hinton joined the U.S. Army Marksmanships Unit where he is currently a staff sergeant. Hinton has seen international success since joining the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit to include two gold medals at the 2022 Championship of the Americas and a gold medal at the 2023 ISSF World Championships.
Rachel Tozier of Pattonsburg, Missouri, qualified for her first Olympic Games in Women’s Trap. She was an alternate for Tokyo 2020 and grew up shooting American Trap with her mother and uncle. Tozier was introduced to international-style trap in 2010 and has been hooked since. She has more than 10 international medals and recently earned a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games—making her a back-to-back Pan American Games medalist after earning silver at the 2019 Pan American Games. Tozier competed on the 2023 World Championship team where she earned a silver medal in Mixed Team Trap with teammate, Derrick Mein. Additionally, Tozier is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Marksmanship and enjoys weightlifting in her free time.
Ryann Phillips of Gail, Texas, will be making her first Olympic appearance in Paris to compete in the Women’s Trap event. Currently attending University of A&M Corpus Christi, Phillips was introduced to the shooting sports in the third grade through a Gail, Texas, 4H program. She was intrigued by the sport because it was not a team event, and she didn’t have to worry about the expectations of others. That intrigue turned Phillips into an international shooting star. In 2018, she began shooting international trap and advanced through the ranks. She most recently earned her first international open age category medal at the 2024 ISSF World Cup Rabat. Phillips is grateful for where her shooting career has taken her and appreciates that there is so much more to the world than her “tiny six-man football team town.”
COACHING STAFF
Jay Waldron will be leading the team as the head shotgun coach for the Paris 2024 Games. Waldron is a Barcelona 1992 Olympian and the 1992 Pan American Games champion in the Men’s Trap event. He has been the USA Shooting national shotgun team coach since 2018. Waldron will be accompanied by Lance Bade and Joe Buffa in Paris. Bade, the assistant trap coach, is a three-time Olympian and an Olympic bronze medalist in Men’s Trap, which he earned at the Atlanta 1996 Games. As for Buffa, he is a 1997 Championships of the Americas medalist and a 2001 Americana World Cup gold medalist and will serve as the assistant skeet coach in Paris.
The first shotgun event for Paris 2024 is Men’s Trap on July 29. All finals events will be live streamed on Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform. You can see the entire Olympic shooting schedule at this link.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games alternates for the U.S. Shotgun Team are listed below.
- Men’s Skeet: Phillip Jungman and Dustan Taylor
- Women’s Skeet: Sam Simonton and Katharina Jacob
- Men’s Trap: Derek Haldeman and Seth Inman
- Women’s Trap: Ashley Carroll and Carey Garrison
As of June 14, the U.S. Olympic shooting team consists of 16 athletes, while the U.S. Paralympic team has a roster of five.
Learn more about USA Shooting and view the entire U.S. Olympic and Paralympic shooting team rosters for the Paris 2024 Games at usashooting.org.
