16-Year-Old Vincent Hancock Wins World Championship Skeet Title In Italy

Sixteen-year-old skeet-shooter Vincent Hancock of Eatonton outshot the world in the recent 2005 ISSF World Clay Target Championship in Lonato, Italy to take the Men’s Skeet World Championship.

Vincent, a member of the Lake Oconee Shotgun Team, used his Beretta DT10 and a near-perfect swing to break 148 of a possible 150 targets and become the youngest-ever world champion.

“The World Championship is the biggest of the big because every country sends their best,” said Craig Hancock, Vincent’s father and coach. “The only thing above it is the Olympics. It was quite a match. In Europe, shooting competition is a big deal. The last 25 targets of the six finalists were broadcast on live TV.”

International Skeet’s Top Gun: Vincent Hancock, of Eatonton, with the Men’s Skeet World Championship Gold Medal that he won May 30 in Lonato, Italy. Vincent is 16 years old.

Vincent, who has his sight set on being a member of the United States 2008 Olympic Shooting Team, has been shooting shotguns competitively since he was 11 and shooting International Skeet since he was 12.

International Skeet differs from American Skeet in that the targets, which are smaller than standard clay targets, travel 20 mph faster. Also, when the shooter calls, “Pull,” there is a random, zero- to three-second delay before the target is fired. And the shooter must start in the low-gun position, with the gun at his hip.

The World Championship was the culmination of a string of recent wins for Vincent, who is ranked No. 1 in the world for men’s skeet. In April, Vincent traveled with the U.S. National Shooting Team to Korea where he won the gold medal in a World Cup men’s skeet competition — with a world-record score. Vincent broke 124 of 125 targets to advance to the final round. In the final round he shot a perfect 25 and a world-record total score of 149.

In mid May, Vincent shot a 148 to take the silver medal at another World Cup competition in Italy behind a shooter who matched his world-record score of 149.

The team-selection process for the 2008 Olympics will begin with matches in the fall of 2007. Only the top two shooters advance to the Olympics. Vincent plans on being one of those two shooters.

“He decided he wanted to go to the Olympics when he was about 12,” said Craig. “He met a lot of the guys from the Army Marksman Unit who had shot the Olympics, and he decided that that’s what he wanted to do.”

What makes Vincent so special with a shotgun? According to his dad, it’s practice.

“He puts in the time,” said Craig. “When everyone else is out riding jet skis or playing different sports, he shoots. That’s the difference.”

A typical morning in June started with Vincent at the Oconee Gun Club range for four rounds of skeet as he prepares for another World Cup Competition in Belgrade, Yugoslavia next month.

“I started shooting this morning about 8:30,” Vincent told GON. “And I am not through yet  (at 11  a.m.).”