American Vincent Hancock won his fourth Olympic gold medal in the men’s skeet on Saturday, beating out young compatriot Conner Prince, who settled for silver in his Games debut. Thailand’s Lee Meng Yuan took bronze.
Hancock, 35, is only the sixth athlete to win the same individual Olympic event four times. He has won gold in Beijing (2008), London (2012), Tokyo (2020) and Paris. He missed Rio in 2016, finishing 15th.
Hancock’s fourth gold medal came in a narrow 58-57 victory over Prince, 24. There were frequent high-fives between the two as they cheered each other on.
“It was good to see him shoot and know I had to give it everything I had to beat him,” Hancock said of Prince.
“I’ve been telling him for years that he’s the only one who can break my records. He’s proven here that he’s ready for this podium. He’s got a long way to go and he can be as good as he wants to be.”
Hancock followed Prince into the final of the six-shooter, taking advantage of a late wobble from his countryman. The mentor in him wanted Prince to win, he said, but the fierce competitor wasn’t about to give in.
“That’s the hardest part, because I really wanted him to win, but at the same time I wanted to win,” Hancock said. “I always told him, ‘I’m going to teach you everything I know,’ and it couldn’t have worked out better, whether it was gold or silver.”
For Prince, it was a great experience to compete against Hancock.
“He’s my coach and he’s the guy to beat,” he told reporters. “He’s probably the best shooter in the world, and for him to be number one and me to be number two is honestly a dream come true.”
In June, after missing the Lonato World Cup final, Hancock told Reuters it was a “wake-up call” that provided “a few little moments of enlightenment”.
He trained for Paris, he said, using “diversionary shooting sessions,” “a crazy mix of everything you can think of.”
“Such loud music, car horns going off, people shouting in your ear, walking next to you, hitting metal trays near your head… My wife comes out, making faces and saying all sorts of things, jumping up and down – anything they can do to make me miss.
“It’s useful because there’s no way to recreate the nerves and the pressure that you feel at the Olympics. And that’s about the closest I’ve come.”
He also said he would go for gold again in 2028 in Paris, Los Angeles, but that he would then increasingly focus on the business side of his sport.
“I feel like God, for whatever reason, has blessed me with the ability to break through targets and shoot a rifle really well,” Hancock said.
“Giving others the opportunity to play the sport that I love is where my career has gone. How can I make a bigger impact than just being an athlete and just trying to win medals?”
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“I want the opportunity to build more shooting ranges in the United States.”
Elsewhere at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, South Korea’s Yang Ji-in won the women’s 25m pistol on Saturday after a shoot-off with France’s Camille Jedrzejewski.
Yang and Jedrzejewski were tied on 37 points, with the Korean winning the shoot-off 4-1 in her Olympic debut.
“This gold medal proves that I am the best in the world right now,” Yang said. “I will have to train harder to get the flag high again in LA.”
Jedrzejewski said she struggled to control her emotions in the final shots.
“Maybe I lost because my emotions were running high, but I’m happy with my silver,” she said. “There was a lot of emotion in the hall and it was a very intense competition.”
Hungary’s Veronika Major won the bronze, also in a shoot-off, denying India’s Manu Bhaker a third medal in Paris.
“I was very happy to get to the final in the first place,” Major said. “This is the best moment of my career so far.”