On 9 July 2026, Vincent Hancock walked onto the range at Trap Concaverde in Lonato and left nothing behind. Thirty-six targets. Thirty-six hits. A perfect 36/36, a world record, and the Skeet Men gold at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup. The number is simple. What it took to reach it is not.
The final belonged to two Americans from the first station.
Hancock delivered a flawless performance throughout the final, hitting every target on his way to a perfect 36 out of 36, a display that established a new world record and surpassed the previous mark.
Beside him, Christian Elliott refused to fold.
Elliott dropped just a single target throughout the final to finish on 35 hits, a score that would have been enough to win on most occasions.
The two teammates pulled clear of everyone else.
Elliott remained alongside Hancock until the closing stages, as the pair separated themselves from the rest of the field with an exhibition of precision and consistency.
Decided by a single clay
One target, in the end, was the whole story. Hancock did not give it. He broke every clay in front of a home crowd that had come to see its own, and the margin held to the last shot.
Italy's Erik Pittini secured the bronze medal with 32 hits, earning a place on the podium in front of the home spectators and remaining in medal contention throughout the final.
Behind the podium the field thinned quickly.
Olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti finished fourth with 25 targets after staying in contention for much of the competition before narrowly missing out on another medal.
It was Rossetti's own record, 35/36 set in May 2026, that Hancock had come to erase.
The long line of a career
This is the ground Hancock has stood on for years. The gold in Lonato marked his 30th career ISSF medal, another entry in a record that already stretches across two decades and multiple Olympic titles. Perfection had been approached in skeet before; it had not been reached at this level until now.
Vincent Hancock once again demonstrated why he is regarded as one of the greatest shotgun athletes in history, setting a new world record of 36 hits to win the Skeet Men title.
What made the day rare was not the medal but the completeness. There was no dropped clay to explain away, no margin left for doubt.
The victory adds another milestone to Hancock's illustrious career and reinforces his status as one of the sport's all-time greats.
The United States left Lonato with a one-two led from the front.
Some records measure a season. This one measures a man who left nothing on the range.
