The Vincent Hancock era of men’s skeet shooting lives on.
The 35-year-old American gunslinger nailed 58 of 60 targets to win his fourth Olympic gold medal in men’s skeet Saturday, becoming the first shooter and just the sixth Olympian ever to win the same individual event at four separate Games.
The battle for gold came down to a Hollywood ending between Hancock and fellow American Conner Prince, who Hancock coaches. In this script, however, the student did not get the better of the master.
Prince, in his debut Olympics, took silver hitting 57 of 60 targets. It was the first time since 1976 that Americans went 1-2 in an Olympic shooting event.
After Hancock hit his gold-medal-winning shot, the two close friends embraced as if both won gold.
“Vinny and I have been talking about this for a very long time, for one of us to go gold and one of us to go silver. The fact that we actually did, it’s quite amazing,” Prince said. Obviously, I wanted to get gold, but honestly, I don’t care. He and I went 1-2 like we were talking about doing. The fact that we’ve made it a reality is remarkable.
For Team USA, Hancock’s win represented the first individual gold medal won by an American man at the Paris Games.
“For me, it’s something that I’ve worked for, for four years. And that’s the hardest thing about the Olympics,” Hancock said. “It just seems to be the luck of the draw for me and I do the best that I can and hope and pray for the best.”