Meet your Paris Olympic Shotgun Team

By Brittany Nelson, USAS Public Relations & Communications Supervisor

COLO SPRGS, CO (June 17, 2024) – Eight shotgun athletes earned their spot to signify Staff 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 turn out to be 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 may also be competing in Combined Staff 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 will likely be Prince’s Olympic debut the place he may also compete in Combined Skeet Staff 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 via 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, will likely be making her second Olympic look in Paris. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian certified for Paris in Ladies’s Skeet. Smith may also pair up with Hancock in Combined Skeet Staff 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 fireplace within the worldwide shotgun scene. She earned two gold medals on the 2023 ISSF World Championships, (Ladies’s Skeet Staff and Combined Skeet Staff), and a bronze medal on the 2023 Pan American Video games. She was most just lately topped champion in Ladies’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 Ladies’s Skeet and also will be competing in Combined Skeet Staff with Prince. Vizzi truly grew up dancing competitively and turned down a suggestion for the Juilliard Dance Intensive to deal with 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 wanting 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 looking 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 type of entice 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 accustomed to firearms and firearms security from a younger age as he grew up in a household of avid chook hunters and his dad was a chook canine coach. He competed for the primary time in 2007 and made the USA Taking pictures Junior World Staff 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 Ladies’s Entice. Tozier, who was an alternate for Tokyo 2020, grew up taking pictures American Entice together with her mom and uncle. She was launched to the worldwide type of entice in 2010 and has been hooked since. She has over 10 worldwide medals and most just lately 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 Combined Staff Entice with teammate Mein. Tozier is a employees sergeant within the AMU and enjoys weightlifting in her free time.

Phillips, of Gail, Texas, will likely be making her first Olympic look in Paris for Ladies’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 via a Gail, Texas, 4H program. She was intrigued by the game as a result of it was not a crew occasion, and he or she didn’t have to fret in regards to the expectations of others. That intrigue turned Phillips into a world taking pictures star. In 2018 she started taking pictures worldwide entice and superior via the ranks. She most just lately 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 will likely 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 will likely be accompanied by Lance Bade and Joe Buffa in Paris. Bade, the help entice 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 will likely be reside streamed on Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform. See the entire Olympic taking pictures schedule right here.

Olympic alternates for the U.S. Shotgun Staff are as follows:

Males’s Skeet: Phillip Jungman and Dustan Taylor
Ladies’s Skeet: Sam Simonton and Katharina Jacob
Males’s Entice: Derek Haldeman and Seth Inman
Ladies’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 all the U.S. Olympic taking pictures crew roster right here and the Paralympic roster right here.

Observe @USAShooting on Instagram, Fb, and X to remain updated because the crew gears up for Paris 2024.