In 2018, Vincent Hancock has not lost any competition he’s entered. He started his year at the World Cup Guadalajara, equalling the finals world record of 59/60 on his way to his first Gold medal of the year. He then went to USA Shooting’s Spring Selection match in Tucson, AZ, where he took home his second Gold. Next was a trip to World Cup Changwon where he once again equalled the finals world record of 59/60 and brought back his third Gold. In May, he travelled to World Cup Siggiewi in Malta and secured his 4th Gold medal of the year. Vinny would skip World Cup Tucson in order to prepare for the World Championships, but he did shoot at USA Shooting’s Summer Selection in Kerrville, TX. Guess what he won? Yup…Gold. He continued his world domination again in Changwon today, not only securing his 4th World Championship, but equalling two world records in the process. He shot a perfect 125/125 in qualification, and for the third time this year equalled the finals world record of 59/60. Did I mention he did all of this after a 17 month break from competition?
Vincent started his comeback at the 2017 USA Shooting Shotgun National Championships. Yes, he won Gold. At the USAS Fall Selection match in Tillar, AR, I got my first chance to see him shoot during his comeback (I wasn’t at Nationals). He won Gold there too. That means that since his break, he hasn’t come in lower than 1st place in any USA Shooting or ISSF competition. It’s almost not fair to the other shooters that he makes it look so easy. But Vinny is a machine, and everyone knows it. Very few, if any, train harder or have the focus he has, and that’s what makes him the #1 Skeet Shooter in the world.
Vinny wasn’t the only Team USA shooter competing today though. His teammates Frank Thompson and Phillip Jungman finished in 45th and and 65th place respectively. Frank shot a 119/125, while Phillip finished with a 116/125. As a team, they would finish in 4th place with a score of 360, just 1 point behind the Bronze Medalists from Russia. France would win Gold with a 365 and Italy would take home Silver with a 363. In the Individual Event, Norway’s Erik Watndal would win Silver and Riccardo Filippelli from Italy would take Bronze. The final skeet quota place was won by France’s Emmanuel Petit.
Prior to the Men’s Finals, the Junior Women’s Finals took place with two shooters from the United States. Last year’s Gold medalist, Katie Jacob, would lose in a shoot-off to make it to the finals and ended up finishing in 7th place. The 2017 Bronze medalist, Sam Simonton, entered the final wearing bib #1 and would fall to the same “curse of the #1 bib” that befell trap shooter Glenn Eller. She ended up finishing in 6th place. 2017 Silver medalist Austen Smith would take home Bronze this year after a hard fought battle. China’s Che Yufei set a new finals world record of 53/60 to take the Gold, while her countrywoman Song Zhengyi would take Silver with a 51/60.
The Junior Women’s Team wasn’t able to repeat their team Gold medal from last year’s World Championships, but they were able to finish with a score of 345 which was good enough for the team Silver medal. Gold medalists China set a new Junior Team World Record with a score of 349 and Bronze medalists Russia finished with 334.
These two finals would be the last two of the 2018 ISSF World Championships. You can see the full results at the ISSF’s Official Website. Replays of all the finals can be found on the ISSF YouTube page, and on our 2018 ISSF World Championships viewing guide. The next event we’ll be covering will be the 2018 USA Shooting Shotgun National Championships in Colorado Springs, CO starting September 29th. Come back for live updates from the range during Nationals!