Eight shotgun athletes earned their spot to symbolize Crew USA on the Olympic Video games Paris 2024, July 26- Aug. 11. The athletes are as follows: Vincent Hancock, Conner Prince, Austen Smith, Dania Vizzi, Derrick Mein, Will Hinton, Rachel Tozier, and Ryann Phillips.
Hancock, of Eatonton, Georgia, certified in Males’s Skeet and is seeking to make historical past on the Video games. Hancock is a four-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic gold medalist, (Beijing 2008, London, 2012, Tokyo 2020). If Hancock earns a fourth gold medal in Paris, he’ll develop into the sixth athlete ever to win the identical particular person Olympic occasion 4 instances and solely the fourth American to take action after Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps (and the primary in taking pictures). Hancock can even be competing in Blended Crew Skeet with Smith, an occasion making its Olympic debut.
Prince, of Burleson, Texas, is becoming a member of Hancock on the Males’s Skeet Olympic crew. Paris shall be Prince’s Olympic debut the place he can even compete in Blended Skeet Crew with Vizzi. He noticed a formidable season in 2023 profitable two medals on the Worldwide Taking pictures Sports activities Federation (ISSF) Rabat World Cup. Prince obtained his begin within the sport of taking pictures by his highschool’s Spartan Clay Goal crew and in 2018 Hancock grew to become Prince’s coach. Hancock now trains and coaches Prince and Smith at his North Lake Taking pictures Sports activities Vary in north Texas.
Smith, of Keller, Texas, shall be making her second Olympic look in Paris. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian certified for Paris in Girls’s Skeet. Smith can even pair up with Hancock in Blended Skeet Crew in pursuit of profitable two medals on the Video games. Smith, who’s at the moment learning aerospace engineering on the College of Texas at Arlington, has been on hearth within the worldwide shotgun scene. She earned two gold medals on the 2023 ISSF World Championships, (Girls’s Skeet Crew and Blended Skeet Crew), and a bronze medal on the 2023 Pan American Video games. She was most not too long ago topped champion in Girls’s Skeet on the 2024 ISSF Baku World Cup.
Vizzi, an Odessa, Florida, native, is making her first Olympic look in Paris. Vizzi certified in Girls’s Skeet and also will be competing in Blended Skeet Crew with Prince. Vizzi really grew up dancing competitively and turned down a proposal for the Juilliard Dance Intensive to give attention to her taking pictures profession. Vizzi has excelled within the worldwide scene since then. She has racked up over 20 worldwide medals to incorporate world champion in 2017 and World Cup champion in 2023. Vizzi, who attended the College of Florida, is trying so as to add an Olympic medal to her spectacular {hardware} assortment.
Mein, of Paola, Kansas, is making his second Olympic look in Paris for Males’s Entice. The 2022 world champion made his Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020. Mein grew up searching together with his household and started taking pictures sporting clays at simply eight years previous. Mein earned a twin scholarship for the baseball and shotgun crew at Lindenwood College the place he was launched to the worldwide fashion of lure and skeet taking pictures. He transferred and graduated from Kansas State and shortly after discovered himself competing on the worldwide stage. Mein has earned medals at World Cups, World Championships, and Championships of the Americas (CAT).
Hinton, of Dacula, Georgia, is making his Olympic debut in Paris in Males’s Entice. Hinton grew to become aware of firearms and firearms security from a younger age as he grew up in a household of avid chicken hunters and his dad was a chicken canine coach. He competed for the primary time in 2007 and made the USA Taking pictures Junior World Crew in 2013. A couple of years later, Hinton joined the U.S. Military Marksmanships Unit (AMU) the place he’s at the moment a employees sergeant. Hinton has seen worldwide success since becoming a member of the AMU to incorporate two gold medals on the 2022 Cat Video games, and a gold medal on the 2023 ISSF World Championships.
Tozier, of Pattonsburg, Missouri, certified for her first Olympic Video games in Girls’s Entice. Tozier, who was an alternate for Tokyo 2020, grew up taking pictures American Entice along with her mom and uncle. She was launched to the worldwide fashion of lure in 2010 and has been hooked since. She has over 10 worldwide medals and most not too long ago earned bronze on the 2023 Pan American Video games making her a back-to-back Pan American Video games medalist as she earned silver on the 2019 Video games. Tozier competed on the 2023 World Championship crew the place she earned a silver medal in Blended Crew Entice with teammate Mein. Tozier is a employees sergeant within the AMU and enjoys weightlifting in her free time.
Phillips, of Gail, Texas, shall be making her first Olympic look in Paris for Girls’s Entice. Phillips, who’s at the moment attending College of A&M Corpus Christi, was launched to the game of taking pictures within the third grade by a Gail, Texas, 4H program. She was intrigued by the game as a result of it was not a crew occasion, and she or he didn’t have to fret concerning the expectations of others. That intrigue turned Phillips into a global taking pictures star. In 2018 she started taking pictures worldwide lure and superior by the ranks. She most not too long ago earned her first worldwide open age class medal on the 2024 ISSF Rabat World Cup. She is grateful for the place her profession has taken her and appreciates that there’s a lot extra to the world than her “tiny six-man soccer crew city”.
Jay Waldron shall be main the crew as the top Olympic shotgun coach for Paris. Waldron is a Barcelona 1992 Olympian and the 1992 Pan American Video games champion in Males’s Entice. Waldron has been the USA Taking pictures nationwide shotgun crew coach since 2018. Waldron shall be accompanied by Lance Bade and Joe Buffa in Paris. Bade, the help lure coach, is a three-time Olympian and a bronze Olympic medalist in Males’s Entice from the Atlanta 1996 Video games. Buffa, who will function the assistant skeet coach in Paris, is a 1997 Championships of the Americas medalist and a 2001 Americana World Cup gold medalist.
The primary shotgun occasion for Paris 2024 is Males’s Entice on July 29. All finals occasions shall be dwell streamed on Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform. See the entire Olympic taking pictures schedule right here.
Olympic alternates for the U.S. Shotgun Crew are as follows:
- Males’s Skeet: Phillip Jungman and Dustan Taylor
- Girls’s Skeet: Sam Simonton and Katharina Jacob
- Males’s Entice: Derek Haldeman and Seth Inman
- Girls’s Entice: Ashley Carroll and Carey Garrison
As of June 14, the U.S. Olympic taking pictures crew consists of 16 athletes and the U.S. Paralympic crew of 5. View the complete U.S. Olympic taking pictures crew roster right here and the Paralympic roster right here.
Comply with @USAShooting on Instagram, Fb, and X to remain updated because the crew gears up for Paris 2024.
