Vincent Hancock poses for a portrait at the U.S. Olympic Committee/NBC Olympics promotional shoot on Nov. 19, 2015 in Los Angeles.
Two-time Olympic skeet shooting champion Vincent Hancock returned to international competition on Sunday at the ISSF World Cup for Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun in Guadalajara, Mexico, looking like he hadn’t missed any time at all.
The 28-year-old from Port Charlotte, Florida, and Australia’s Paul Allen equaled a world record with 59 shots before going to a shootout to determine the winner. Hancock stayed locked in, hitting six of six targets, and when Allen missed, the gold medal went to the American.
The men’s skeet final closed out the week-long world cup. Hancock’s gold was the third for the U.S., as he joined women’s skeet champion Kim Rhode and women’s trap champion Ashley Carroll. Overall, the U.S. finished second with six medals (three golds, one silver, two bronzes). India led with nine medals.
Hancock, who took a year off following the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and last competed at the October 2016 World Cup Final, qualified first overall and led throughout the final. He was perfect until the medal round, when he missed his first shot and landed in a tie with Adams at 49. They matched each other shot for shot before going to the shootout.
American Frank Thompson finished fifth in the final.
Hancock, a three-time Olympian, nearly retired from the sport in 2011 before going on to become the first skeet shooter to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2012. Then in 2015 he came the first American shotgun shooter to win three world championship titles.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
