{"id":17409,"date":"2012-09-20T08:24:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T13:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=17409"},"modified":"2012-09-23T13:25:08","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T18:25:08","slug":"six-usa-shooting-team-members-to-compete-in-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/six-usa-shooting-team-members-to-compete-in-world-cup-final\/17409\/","title":{"rendered":"Six USA Shooting Team Members to Compete in World Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A little more than a month after becoming the first ever skeet shooter to repeat Olympic gold, Vincent Hancock heads to Maribor and the World Cup Finals. Photo credit: John David Mercer \/\/ US Presswire<\/p><\/div>\n

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock <\/strong>(USAMU\/Eatonton, Ga.) leads a six-member squad into competition Saturday as the 2012 International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final for Shotgun gets underway in Maribor, Slovenia.<\/p>\n

ISSF World Cup Finals are organized every year, as a conclusion of the ISSF World Cup Series, and feature the best eight shooters in each event with the highest qualification values along with wild cards granted to others such as defending champions and this year to the three Olympic medalists in each event.<\/p>\n

Joining Hancock in Maribor will be two-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell <\/strong>(Eagle River, Alaska) along with 2012 Olympian and 2010 World Champion Josh Richmond <\/strong>(USAMU\/Hillsgrove, Pa.).\u00a0 Rising trap shooter Kayle Browning<\/strong> (Wooster, Ark.) along with female skeet shooters Caitlin Connor<\/strong> (Winnfield, La.) and Brandy Drozd<\/strong> (Bryan, Texas) are also competing in the year-end competition.<\/p>\n

Hancock won the gold medal in London by setting both a qualifying Olympic record hitting 123 of 125 targets and then backing that up with a perfect 25\/25 in the final for an Olympic record of 148\/150 overall.\u00a0 Hancock became the first skeet shooter ever to win back-to-back gold medals in the event after winning the 2008 Olympic gold medal as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve been taught is to know that I\u2019m the best,\u201d said Hancock at the time. \u201cThat\u2019s what I was telling myself out there. I knew that I was going to win this before I stepped out on that field; it\u2019s that expectation that I set for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eleven men will try and knock Hancock from his perch atop the Men\u2019s Skeet world including the three men that finished well behind the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Sergeant.\u00a0 Silver medalist Anders Golding of Denmark, bronze medalist Nasser Al-Attitya of Qatar and fourth-place finisher Valeriy Shomin of Russia are all expected to compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis competition has the top shooters of the year competing against each other,\u201d said Hancock.\u00a0 \u201cIt is yet another stage for us to show the world what the US athletes are capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cogdell is hopeful to put results of a bad final round in London behind her and showcase the skills that led her to an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing as well as the World Cup win she earned at the Tucson World Cup in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always such an honor to compete in the World Cup Finals as one of the top 12 in the world,\u201d said Cogdell.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to wrapping up my World Cup season with a strong performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Cogdell in the talented women\u2019s trap field is Browningwho finished second to Cogdell for an Olympic selection.\u00a0 Browning earned her way to Maribor after earning a career first World Cup medal at the London Prepares event in April.\u00a0\u00a0 The wind, rain and cold conditions of London couldn\u2019t detract Browning from recording the top performance of her career as the Arkansas native earned a bronze medal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready for this competition,\u201d said Browning. <\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve got the right equipment and hopefully my hard work and training will pay off to the team\u2019s advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four of the top five finishers from the 2012 Olympic Games will compete alongside the American trap shooters including all three medalists.\u00a0 Jessica Rossi of Italy was the eventual gold medal winner followed by Zuzana Stefecekova of Slovakia and Delphine Reau of France.\u00a0 Also competing will be Fatima Galvez of Spain, a fifth-place finisher in London as well as 2008 Olympic gold medalist Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland.<\/p>\n

For Double Trap expert Richmond, Maribor couldn\u2019t have come sooner as he looks to reverse the bad taste he\u2019s had in his mouth since leaving the firing line in London.<\/p>\n

An ominous beginning for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit shooter and an uncharacteristic number of first-target misses would shatter confidence and rattle nerves throughout his first Olympic shoot.\u00a0 Trying to put it together in rounds two and three of qualifying, Richmond struggled with consistency throughout.<\/p>\n

Richmond finished in 16th place with a score of 131 with rounds of 44, 42 and 45, which was the lowest recorded score in world-level competition since 2006.<\/p>\n

London gold medalist Peter Wilson of Great Britain won\u2019t be present at the World Cup Finals, but silver medalist Hakan Dahlby of Sweden, Russian bronze medalist Vasily Mosin, fourth-place Kuwaiti Fehaid Aldeehani and fifth-place Russian Vitaly Fokeev will all participate.\u00a0 In addition, 2008 Olympic silver medalist Francesco D\u2019Aniello of Italy will be among the contenders as well.<\/p>\n

A demanding post-Olympic schedule will prevent five-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode<\/strong> (El Monte, Calif.) from competing in the Women\u2019s Skeet World Cup Final.\u00a0 However, two capable shooters will try and fill the void.\u00a0 Connoris a National Team athlete who has medaled in the previous four USA Shooting National Championships and finished sixth at the Lonato (Italy) World Cup earlier this year.\u00a0 Drozd is a rising junior shooter who showcased her potential on home soil during the Tucson World Cup in March with a bronze-medal finish.<\/p>\n

The World Cup Final will feature London silver medalist Ning Wei of China and bronze medalist Danka Bartekova of Slovakia.\u00a0 Also competing is 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Christine Wenzel of Germany who nearly secured a second Olympic medal in London with a fourth-place finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (USAMU\/Eatonton, Ga.) leads a six-member squad into competition Saturday as the 2012 International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final for Shotgun gets underway in Maribor, Slovenia. ISSF World Cup Finals are organized every year, as a conclusion of the ISSF World Cup Series, and feature the best eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":17410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2597,165],"tags":[1620,2661],"class_list":["post-17409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shootingsports","category-usa-shooting","tag-issf-world-cup","tag-vincent-hancock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}