Shooting star Vincent Hancock exclusive: "Once every four years I get the highest high you can possibly experience”

Vincent Hancock is one of the greatest shooters in history but feels more pressure with every major competition.

This may sound strange, given his resume to date. After winning his first shooting world title at age 16 in 2005, he went on to win his first skeet Olympic title at Beijing 2008. The Texas native defended that title at London 2012, before winning it again at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

However, despite his experience, controlling those nerves never gets easier for the six-time world champ.

Instead, he chooses to embrace them. And it is this ability, perhaps above all else, that makes him a legend of the sport.

“There's always so many nerves and a lot of pressure. If anybody says they don't feel it, they're most likely lying to you, because to me, it gets harder each time,” Vincent told Olympics.com.

“When I'm standing there and I'm getting ready to call for the target and my heart's beating so hard that I can hear it, let alone the fact that it's bumping so hard that I can see in my peripheral vision that my gun barrel is actually moving with it.

“That’s when I think, **“**All right. You are alive. This has got you going. So let's use this. Let's use this adrenaline to push it all into focus because that adrenaline, that extra little bit of juice makes you just want to do better. It slows everything down and makes it actually a little bit easier if you know how to use it the right way.

“The adrenaline is very much addictive. I wouldn't call myself an adrenaline junkie because I don't seek out a lot of other things that push me to get that adrenaline going. But I think that's probably because all I need to do is just go out and compete, and once every four years I get the highest high you can possibly experience.”

Vincent Hancock: It’s not just about medals anymore

Another key factor behind Hancock’s dominance and longevity is his seemingly infinite motivation to keep winning.

Despite heading into Paris as a three-time Olympic champion, motivation was never going to be a problem for the US Army sergeant, for whom shooting is so much more than an occupation.

“I love doing this. This is one of the things that I'm the best at, for whatever reason. The talent that God decided to give me, at least for this part of my life, was to be able to shoot clay targets. And I think it's for a reason,” he continued.

“I can have a positive impact on people. It's provided me with a platform. I've started a shooting range now in North Texas which means I can have an impact on kids, on people that come out in my sport for the first time and truly get to understand why I do this, why I love it. Being able to give back like that, it's really been just so much fun getting to explore that new side of what I'm doing. It's not just about medals anymore.

In this way, Hancock wants to inspire others to live an equally fulfilling life, whether that's in shooting or any other pursuit they are passionate about.

“I want to encourage everybody to try any Olympic sport or really find something that you truly enjoy doing. People always say do what you love and you love what you do, but that's truly the case. If you can find that one thing that inspires you, that makes you want to be better, that pushes you to be better, then that's where you need to be. That's where you're meant to be.”

Winning a fourth Olympic title in the same event is incredibly rare.

At Paris 2024, Hancock became just the sixth male US athlete to achieve it, joining an illustrious list that includes the likes of swimming legends Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, as well as long jump king Carl Lewis.

“Honestly, if you would have asked me before I first started if I would be there, I would have probably laughed and said no way. And just as you tick one more off and one more off, it gets harder and harder each time,” he said.

“But to know that I'm going in there with those names, with those athletes and what they accomplished, it means a lot to me now. Those athletes that I've looked up to for so long or that I've tried to compare myself to whether rightfully or wrongfully… it's a lot of fun knowing that, yes, I did this and I'm here now."

Hancock’s brilliance didn’t end there in the French capital.

Two days after his skeet victory, the Fort Worth man was back on the podium, this time having won silver alongside Austen Smith in the mixed skeet team.

After dealing with the pressure of his individual event, competing as part of a team was far more enjoyable for Hancock.

"There is definitely a little bit of difference between the individual event and the mixed team event. We have a lot more fun when we're in the mixed team and it is probably the thing that I was looking forward to the most coming in here,” he said.

“I was probably the most confident about that one because we've shot together for so long. She knows that I don't like focussing and thinking about shooting all the time, even between stations. And I know that that helps her too. So we were able to feed off of each other and just kind of take a little of that pressure off. Just enjoy yourself, smile, and no matter what we do, no matter what, we end up, whether we're first or last, as long as we're having fun, then we're doing exactly what we need to do.”

Aiming for a fifth shooting gold medal at LA 2028

Before Paris, Hancock thought a fourth-consecutive skeet title could provide a fitting ending to his career.

But that thinking was short-lived.

After discovering that the next Olympic Games would take place on home turf at LA 2028, his heart was quickly set on one last dance.

“I've discussed retirement with my family quite a bit and tried to figure out what my plan was moving forward. But when I found out that there was going to be a Games in Los Angeles, I had to go and try to defend our home turf," he said.

“It's very difficult to make Team USA, of course, but my intention is to be back in LA and hopefully defend my goals one more time.

“To be able to represent my country and walk away with Olympic gold medals is an insane reality that I'm living in right now and I'm just trying to have fun with it. Hopefully, we can do it again.”