John Parker

Breaking down the Olympic medals won in shooting events by Team USA at the Paris 2024 Games.

The Paris 2024 Olympics wrapped up on Sunday, August 11, with the closing ceremony, but for Team USA’s athletes competing in shooting events, as far as competition was concerned, the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad concluded on Monday, August 5, with the mixed team skeet event. After 10 consecutive days of events, USA Shooting athletes walked away from the Chateauroux Shooting Center with a total of five Olympic medals, including a men’s skeet gold performance from Vincent Hancock, marking his fourth in the event.

Team USA’s Sagen Maddalena picked up its first shooting event medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a silver in women’s 50m smallbore 3-position rifle. Entering the final as the top-ranked shooter, Maddalena held an early lead, but after two bad shots in standing, she zoomed past Chinese shooter Quiongyue Zhang to earn the silver medal. Her silver medal performance in France marked the first time the U.S. medaled in the women’s 50m smallbore 3-position rifle event since the London 2012 Olympic Games, where Jamie Lynn Gray won a gold medal. This was Maddalena’s first Olympic medal.

The next medals came in men’s skeet, where USA Shooting athletes Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince claimed the top two podium spots. Hancock won the gold medal after a thrilling final, which pitted him against Prince as the final two shooters, a duel all the more compelling due to the fact that Prince is coached by Hancock. After Prince missed a bird at the end of the final, Hancock shattered four consecutive targets to secure his fourth Olympic men’s skeet gold medal, with Prince earning the silver. For Hancock, the win placed him in elite company—the sixth athlete in history to ever win the same individual Olympic event four times. (Later that same evening, Team USA swimmer Katie Ledecky became the seventh athlete to win the same individual event four times after winning an 800m freestyle gold medal.) Additionally, Prince’s silver medal performance marked his first Olympic medal.

Next was women’s skeet, where Team USA’s Austen Smith claimed the bronze medal, walking away from the final with a score of 45 of 50 targets. This was a significant improvement for Smith, after the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, where she finished in 10th place in the same event. Like Conner Prince, Smith is coached by four-time gold medalist Vincent Hancock. Her bronze medal is her first in Olympic competition.

Finally, Team USA picked up its fifth shooting medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics in mixed team skeet, an event which made its debut at the Games this year. The duo of Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith shattered 44 targets to land a silver medal. The U.S. shooters posted a score that was only one behind the gold medalists, Italian shooters Diana Bacosi and Gabriele Rossetti.

Thus, USA Shooting athletes earned one gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics. China led all nations in shooting event medals with a total of 10—five golds, two silvers and three bronze medals, followed by South Korea with six, three golds and three silvers. Team USA ranked third on the shooting event medal list at the Paris 2024 Games.

For Team USA as a whole, the total medal count at the Paris Olympics this year was 126, including 40 golds. The final tally is the most medals for the U.S. since the Los Angeles 1984 Games.

Now, USA Shooting athletes have four years to prepare for the next Olympic Games, which will be held a little closer to home. The next Summer Olympics will be hosted by Los Angeles in 2028.

Article posted with permission from Shooting Sports USA

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