COLO SPRGS, CO (Aug. 29, 2025) – In Lonato, Italy, the American flag rose above the rostrum — not as soon as, however twice — because the nationwide anthem performed for Group USA’s gold medals in each Males’s and Girls’s Skeet. It was a defining second in a season already stuffed with victories, one which showcased the satisfaction, talent, and willpower driving the U.S. Shotgun Group to new heights in 2025.
With 34 worldwide medals already secured earlier than the World Championships start, the U.S. shotgun group has proven unmatched depth, consistency, and dominance on the worldwide stage. And with two main competitions nonetheless forward, they’re poised to additional cement their status as probably the most formidable forces within the sport.
The Basis of a Turnaround
The rostrum finishes mirror not solely intentional modifications revamped the previous 18 months to strengthen high-performance tradition — refining group choice processes, investing in athlete sources, and increasing teaching assist — but additionally the unbelievable expertise of the U.S. shotgun group throughout all disciplines. Strategic donor investments have opened the door for extra athletes to realize worthwhile worldwide expertise, alternatives which are straight translating into medals.
Stars and Milestones
Among the many standout performances, Olympic legend Vincent Hancock captured his thirtieth ISSF World Cup medal with a gold in Males’s Skeet on the Lonato World Cup on July 8. His extraordinary profession now consists of 5 Olympic medals, 4 world titles, and greater than 40 worldwide podiums.
“It’s unbelievable,” stated Hancock. “In the event you win the World Cup or World Championships in Lonato, it means you’ve performed one thing. I don’t take this evenly in any respect and this implies quite a bit to me.”
In April, Olympian Will Hinton delivered a breakthrough efficiency, capturing his first particular person ISSF World Cup gold in Males’s Lure on the Lima World Cup after already incomes a bronze earlier that month in Buenos Aires. Christian Elliott made his personal mark on the worldwide stage, claiming his first particular person ISSF World Cup gold in Buenos Aires and retaining the momentum alive with a silver in Lima — proving each athletes have the talent and composure to succeed in opposition to the very best on the planet.
Girls’s Skeet has been a powerhouse, led by Kimberly Rhode, Sam Simonton, and Dania Vizzi, who swept the rostrum in Lima earlier than Simonton and Vizzi repeated with gold and silver in Lonato. Vizzi, a Paris 2024 Olympian, has now medaled in Lonato three consecutive years. Simonton has claimed medals at three of 4 ISSF World Cups in 2025. Rhode, a six-time Olympic medalist and shotgun phenomenon, added a silver medal to her 2025 successes on the Bueno Aires World Cup. The El Monte, California, native is coaching with willpower for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Video games, the place she may take the world stage in entrance of a home-town crowd.
Rising Juniors Making Their Mark
The subsequent technology of U.S. shotgun athletes is surging ahead with spectacular outcomes. On the 2025 Junior Shotgun Championship of the Americas (CAT Video games), Group USA captured 10 medals and eight quota slots for the Junior Pan American Video games — lots of them from athletes whose breakthrough performances had been made attainable by donors investing in younger expertise by means of journey, coaching, and worldwide competitors alternatives. That funding paid off once more on the 2025 Junior Pan American Video games, the place the juniors earned seven extra medals, proving the energy of the shotgun pipeline and constructing worthwhile expertise that may carry them into LA28 and past.
Trying Forward
9 U.S. shotgun athletes have already certified for the distinguished ISSF World Cup Remaining — reserved for the world’s top-ranked opponents — and the group now turns its focus to the World Championships in October.
“From our Olympic veterans to our junior athletes, the expertise, depth, and consistency we’re seeing throughout the board is inspiring,” stated USA Capturing CEO Kelly Reisdorf. “This momentum is precisely what we want as we set our sights on success on the LA28 Olympic Video games.”
With the season’s outcomes to this point, Group USA has proven the world that American excellence leads the sphere in worldwide shotgun taking pictures.
Under is a full listing of worldwide medals earned by Group USA shotgun athletes to this point in 2025:
JR SG CAT Video games (March) 10 Medals and eight Quotas
Medals
Benjamin Keller: Gold, Junior Males’s Skeet
Aidin Burns: Silver, Junior Males’s Skeet
Madeline Corbin: Gold, Junior Girls’s Skeet
Benjamin Keller, Aidin Burns, and Westley Kiter: Gold, Junior Males’s Skeet Group
Gracie Hensley: Bronze, Junior Girls’s Skeet
Carey Garrison: Gold, Junior Girls’s Lure
Ava Downs: Silver, Junior Girls’s Lure
Sidney Coffin: Bronze, Junior Girls’s Lure
Connor Lynn and Ava Downs: Gold, Junior Combined Lure Group
Kaleb Horinek and Carey Garrison: Bronze, Junior Combined Lure Group
Quotas Earned for the 2025 Junior Pan American Video games
Junior Girls’s Skeet (2): Madeline Corbin and Gracie Hensley
Junior Males’s Skeet (2): Benjamin Keller and Aidin Burns
Junior Girls’s Lure (2): Carey Garrison and Ava Downs
Junior Males’s Lure (2): Kalen Horinek and Connor Lynn
Buenos Aires World Cup (April) 6 Medals
Dania Vizzi: Gold Girls’s Skeet
Kimberly Rhode: Silver, Girls’s Skeet
Christian Elliott: Gold, Males’s Skeet
Glenn Eller: Silver, Males’s Lure
Will Hinton: Bronze, Males’s Lure
Carey Garrison: Silver, Girls’s Lure
Lima World Cup (April) 6 Medals
Kimberly Rhode: Gold Girls’s Skeet
Sam Simonton: Silver, Girls’s Skeet
Dania Vizzi: Bronze, Girls’s Skeet
Dustan Taylor: Gold, Males’s Skeet
Christian Elliott: Silver, Males’s Skeet
Will Hinton: Gold, Males’s Lure
Cyprus World Cup (Could) 2 Medals
Samantha Simonton: Silver, Girls’s Skeet
Carey Garrison: Silver Girls’s Lure
Lonato World Cup (July) 3 Medals
Sam Simonton: Gold, Girls’s Skeet
Dania Vizzi: Silver, Girls’s Skeet
Vincent Hancock: Gold, Males’s Skeet
2025 Junior Pan American Video games (Aug) 7 Medals and 1 Quota
Aidin Burns: Silver, Males’s Skeet
Gracie Hensley: Silver, Girls’s Skeet
Alishia “Religion” Layne: Bronze, Girls’s Skeet
Ava Downs: Gold, Girls’s Lure
Kaleb Horinek: Bronze, Males’s Lure
Carey Garrison & Tony Meola: Gold, Combined Lure Group
Ava Downs & Kaleb Horinek: Silver, Combined Lure Group
Quota Earned for the 2027 Pan American Video games
Girls’s Lure: Ava Downs
A Private Because of Our Sponsors and Donors
This season’s success is simply attainable due to the generosity, perception, and dedication of our sponsors and donors. Your funding is producing gold medals, satisfaction throughout the nationwide anthem, and proof that American expertise nonetheless leads the world. Whether or not it’s supporting an Olympian on the street to LA28 or giving a junior athlete their first shot at worldwide competitors, you might be companions in each victory.
USA Capturing extends heartfelt due to The NRA Basis, Hillsdale School, The Worldwide Order of T. Roosevelt, The Hal & Jean Glassen Basis, Safari Membership Worldwide, MidwayUSA Basis, Shoot the Moon, and all who stand with us on this mission.
Be part of the Motion
When our athletes take the rostrum, they signify all of us — our nation, our sport, and the values we share. By changing into a USA Capturing member, you’re not simply supporting the Second Modification; you’re standing behind the athletes who make the anthem play on the world stage.
Be part of us in the present day, and be a part of the group that’s making historical past.
