Overall, it was a stellar day of skeet for the Americans as Samantha Simonton would also win the women's skeet final.
Hancock not lost a step ahead of ISSF World Championships
When you are one of the greatest athletes to ever pick up a shotgun, you can pick and choose your battles more often. Vincent Hancock, now 36, is at a stage in his career where being selective has helped him a lot. Of the four 2024 ISSF World Cups prior to his Paris 2024 victory, he competed in two. Since leaving Chateauroux, he has not competed in ISSF events.
Today ended that absence, just months out from the ISSF World Championship Shotgun in Greece. Questions were answered as he topped qualification after beating Czechs Daniel Korcak and Jakub Tomecek in a shoot-off. All three scored a near-perfect 124 and were joined by Swedish pair Henrik Jansson and Stefan Nilsson Schoen, as well as Nicolas Le Jeune, who progressed from a nine-way shoot-off.
The final did not start as smooth as qualification did. The American would miss four shots in his opening 20 - finishing one ahead of Le Jeune, who would exit in sixth. Battling the conditions, he would pull away from elimination with a clean 10 shots and only missed one more in his next 10. This pulled him away from Nilsson Schoen who finished fifth, as well as Tomecek who struggled after a great start.
Meanwhile, Jansson was enjoying great form. He had just three misses at this stage and a two-shot lead over Hancock, who was now one ahead of Korcak. However, a double miss on shots 49 and 50 would bring the gap down to one shot between them going into the final 10 targets. Jansson would miss again to bring it level going into the final four shots - but dramatically, both athletes missed their final shot, bringing it to a shoot-off. A miss at target seven for Jansson meant Hancock would take the gold medal - his 14th individual title on the World Cup circuit.
Samantha Simonton and Dania Jo Vizzi sharing a hug after their finalSimonton-Vizzi one-two keeps American dominance going
Samantha Simonton had twice finished runner-up this season in the women's skeet in Lima and Nicosia - but this time she was on top, winning her second ISSF World Cup gold.
Attention would always be on the Americans in the final, who had completed a clean sweep in Lima and a one-two in Buenos Aires. In Argentina, Dania Jo Vizzi was the winner and the bronze medallist in Lima. Expectedly, they performed well again. Simonton scored 20 from her first 20 targets, although Vizzi would miss three in that period, staying away from elimination by virtue of her starting position.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yiting of China had matched Simonton - with the pair two ahead of Emmanouela Katzouraki from Greece. Vizzi survived the initial blip with just one miss in her next 20, and would draw level with Jiang who missed four. Katzouraki was one shot behind and would eventually finish in fourth, ahead of Gabriela Rodriguez of Mexico and Marjut Heinonen from Finland.
Vizzi managed to stay level with Jiang, with both scoring nine from 10 targets - meaning the Chinese athlete finished third thanks to the American topping qualification. While they fought hard to remain in the fight for gold, Simonton was maintaining her lead. She held a two-shot advantage going into the final round. Scoring nine to Vizzi's eight ensured she would become the third athlete from her country to win the women's skeet this year after Vizzi and Kim Rhode. They finished on totals of 56 and 53.