Qatar Shooting & Archery Association (QSAA) President Mishaal Ibrahim Al Nasr, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Secretary-General Willi Grill, and President of the African and Egyptian Shooting Federation Major General Hazem Hosny with the podium winners of the mixed team skeet event.
Prolific American shooters Vincent Hancock and Kimberly Rhode yesterday overcame France’s Eric Delaunay and Lucie Anastassiou to clinch the mixed skeet team title on Day 4 of the ISSF World Cup Shotgun Doha 2023.
At the Lusail Shooting Range, the US and French teams booked their places in the gold medal match following a thrilling qualifying round which ended with both teams scoring 148 before the Americans won a shoot-off 4-3 to top the 32-team field.
Qatar’s Reem Al Sharshani and Paris 2024 Games-bound Rashid Saleh Al Athba finished 14th with a score of 140 while the second Qatari team, comprising Ghulam Hajar Mohammed and Abdulaziz Al Attiyah, only managed to score 122.
Hancock and Rhode, both three-time Olympic gold winners, were flawless in the gold medal match and shot all 24 of their targets to score 6 points.
Vincent Hancock and Kimberly Rhode celebrate their victory.
The reigning Olympic champion Hancock was happy with his performances which led to his 18th World Cup gold medal.
“I feel good. I mean, I know that I was shooting really, really well this entire match. And last night, the conditions were a little bit different. I’m super thankful and happy on how I did,” Hancock said.
“I’m happy to be able to stand up here on the top of the podium today in the mixed team with my teammate and we are going home with a gold medal,” Hancock, who finished second behind Italian Gabriele Rossetti in the men’s skeet on Tuesday, said.
Hancock also noted that he loved having Rhode, the winner of the women’s skeet on Tuesday, besides him in the final.
Kimberly Rhode during the event.
“Honestly when shooting with her, it takes kind of all the pressure away. So it’s just a lot of fun because especially with this team here. It’s always fun to compete with a team because you have a little bit of that camaraderie just playing back and forth, but knowing that we’re competing together. We’ve won at the highest levels possible, and you put us together, we feel really confident. I think I speak for both of us that, you know, we have each other,” Hancock said.
Meanwhile, Rhode, who just won two women’s skeet World Cup golds – in Rabat and Doha, said their goal is the next Olympics.
“Well, hopefully the Olympics (is the next target). I think that’s what everybody says, right? I mean, that’s our goal to win. But at the end of the day, I just feel very fortunate. I mean, to have all that training and hard work pay off and to be out here with some of the best competitors in the world. It’s just truly I feel blessed, very, very fortunate to be able to do what I love every day,” Rhode said.
