American Vincent Hancock hit each of his 25 shots in the final round to bring home his second gold medal, making himself the first man ever to win gold twice in skeet shooting.
Shooting, Men’s Skeet: American Vincent Hancock Wins Second Career Gold
American Vincent Hancock became the first man to win two Olympic golds in skeet shooting at the age of just 23, setting an Olympic record in the process.
Hancock, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, won gold in Beijing at only 19 years old. Four years later, he dominated the competition, hitting 148 of the 150 shots, a new Olympic record. The Eatonton, Ga., native led by two after the qualifying rounds and didn’t allow his competition any chance to fight back by nailing every shot he took.
In case you needed to know whether or not America is the best in the world at shooting shotguns at stuff, this is the second gold for the United States in skeet, after Kim Rhode won America’s first of the Olympics by hitting 99 out of 100 shots. The medal briefly puts the USA ahead, 18-17, in the overall medal count against China, and is the sixth gold won by an American in the games.
Anders Golding of Denmark hit 146 shots to take silver, while third was initially a tie between Nasser al-Attiya of Qatar and Valeriy Shomin of Russia at 144. That required a shoot-off, which al-Attiya won 6-5 to take bronze, Qatar’s first of the game.
Here’s the medals:
Gold: Vincent Hancock, USA
Silver: Anders Golding, Denmark
Bronze: Nasser al-Attiya, Qatar
And here’s what Hancock nailing a clay pigeon in slow motion looks like:
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation’s London 2012 Olympics Hub.
See More:
