Italy wins first Olympic mixed team skeet gold medal

Chateauroux: After four Olympic gold medals, Vincent Hancock has had to settle for a silver.

Italy edged the United States 45-44 on Monday in the final of the first Olympic mixed team skeet competition, the first time US shooter Hancock has won a medal of any colour other than gold in an Olympic career going back to 2008. Italy’s Gabriele Rosetti and Diana Bacosi, both individual skeet gold medalists in 2016, needed to hit at least seven of their last eight targets to win the gold medal and avoid a shoot-off. Rosetti missed one of his four — after hitting 20 targets in a row — but Bacosi closed out the contest with four hits to win the last shooting event of the Paris Olympics.

Hancock is also a coach and was shooting alongside his student, Austen Smith, the women’s individual skeet bronze medalist.

Hancock aimed for his fifth career gold medal and second in the 2024 Olympics. It followed his victory in the men’s individual skeet which helped him become one of just six Olympians to win the same event four times.