By Amlan Chakraborty
CHATEAUROUX, France (Reuters) – Vincent Hancock is still the undisputed skeet king but the American shooting great tipped his protege Conner Prince to assume the mantle when he quits the sport after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Hancock won his fourth Olympic gold medal in Paris on Saturday with a narrow 58-57 victory over 24-year-old Prince in an U.S. one-two at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
In a tight battle, there were regular high-fives between the pair as they egged each other on.
“It was good to see him shooting the way he was and knowing I was going to have to bring everything I had to beat him,” Hancock said of Prince.
“I’ve been telling him for several years that the only person who could break my records is him.
“He just proved it here that he’s ready for this stage. He has a long road ahead of him and he can be as good as he wants to be.”
Hancock followed Prince in the six-shooter final round and capitalised on a late wobble by his compatriot to become only the sixth athlete to win the same Olympic individual event four times.
The mentor in him wanted Prince to win, but the fierce competitor was not ready to budge.
“That’s the hardest part because I really wanted him to win but at the same time I also wanted to win,” Hancock said.
“I’ve always told him, ‘I’m going to teach you everything I know’, and it couldn’t have worked out any better, whether it was gold or silver.”
For Prince, competing against Hancock was a great experience.
“He’s my coach and he’s the man to beat,” he told reporters.
“He’s probably the greatest shooter in the world, and for him to go number one and me number two, it is honestly a dream.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty; editing by Ed Osmond)
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