American men’s skeet competitor Vincent Hancock made waves at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the first Olympic shooter to win four gold medals in the same individual event. Not only that, he joined an elite list of athletes—Hancock is one of only seven Olympians throughout history to capture four gold medals in the same event, including four Americans—Al Oerter (discus), Carl Lewis (long jump), Michael Phelps (200 m butterfly) and Katie Ledecky (800 m freestyle).
“It’s pretty special for me because I love the Olympics,” Hancock said. “The fact that I’ve been able to do what I’ve done in this sport and just have my name in the same breath as them—that’s special to me.”
Hancock missed just two of 60 targets in the men’s skeet final. After four finalists were eliminated, it came down to Hancock and U.S. teammate Conner Prince for the gold. Upping the ante even further—Hancock is Prince’s shooting coach. Although Hancock held the lead for most of the final, it was all on the line at the end. After Prince missed his 54th shot, Hancock shattered his last four targets to win gold and become a four-time champion. “This was the hardest one yet,” Hancock said. “But it was good to see Conner shooting the way he was and knowing I was going to have to bring everything I had in order to beat him.”
When asked if something other than a gold medal would have been acceptable to him this year, Hancock emphasized that a podium finish at the Olympics is a monumental accomplishment for any athlete. “I knew that coming into this, it’s a crapshoot,” he said. “With everything going perfectly, I’ll win gold. If it doesn’t, I can still win a medal. And that’s okay—you’re still an Olympic medalist, and you’ll always be an Olympic medalist.”
Apart from his Olympic gold medals, Hancock’s greatest legacy may be the shooters he coaches. In addition to Prince, the men’s skeet silver medalist, another Hancock pupil, Team USA’s Austen Smith, walked away from the women’s skeet final with a bronze medal. Hancock and Smith also picked up a mixed team skeet silver medal to close out the Paris 2024 Olympics, making them the first U.S. shooters to earn two medals at the same Games since Lones Wigger in Tokyo 1964. Learn more about how the U.S. Shooting Team fared at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at ssusa.org.
