Vincent Hancock Jeff Holguin
When professional athletes and Olympians look for a doctor they don’t just pick randomly in the yellow pages. They do their research and choose wisely.
Pittsburgh Steeler Ross Ventrone, and US Olympic Shooters Vincent Hancock, and Jeff Holguin all get a mental edge by seeing PA Hypnosis founder Dan Vitchoff.
Hancock and Holguin both had major success this week at the ISSF World Cup.
The 2008 and 2012 Olympic Champion, USA’s Vincent Hancock, won today’s Skeet Men final at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico.
Hancock turned out to be the protagonist of an exceptional competition. First he qualified for the Finals with a perfect score of 125 hits, equalling the world record, and then hit all of the semi-final targets and of the medal match targets, leaving no chances to his opponents.
It had never happened before: since the new Skeet rules are in place, nobody had ever shuttered all the clays from the first qualification series straight to the Gold meal match.
“It’s exactly what I wanted. I have been shooting well, but I switched to my Beretta DT11 two months ago, so I haven’t shot a lot with it, but it works really well.” The champion said, diplaying self confidence.
“I am excited. This is a great way to begin the season. This year has Olympic points on the line for us, so I have to win as many world cup medals as I can.” Said Hancock, who has already won a Rio 2016 slot at the 2014 CAT, and is now collecting points to make the 2016 US Olympic team.
“Typically, when I start a new season I shot a lot of rounds. I would shoot 500 shells per day. But not this time. Last year it has been a long one, so I took it easy and tried to carry on what I had gained in 2014.” He added.
“This Wolrd Cup was the first stepping stone to get to the next Olympic Gold medal.” Vincent concluded, looking forward to Rio 2016.
Holguin Scores Gold.
The reigning ISSF Wolrd Cup champion Jeffrey Holguin, 36, from USA, claimed the Gold medal, beating China’s Hu Binyuan, 37, currently ranked second in the world, at the Gold medal match.
Holguin had to shoot 120 targets to climb atop of the highest step of the podium, after the qualifications. First he started off by hitting 29 clays out of 30 in the semi-final. Then, he had to shoot-off against his teammate Derek Haldeman to gain a pass for the Gold medal match, and 52 targets were thrown to separate the two. Then, in the medal match, he met Hu Binyuan, the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist of the People’s Republic of China that he had already beaten a few months ago at the 2014 ISSF World Cup Final in Gabala (AZE).
The two finalists ended up tied once again, with 28 hits each, but Holguin prevailed in the following shoot-off for Gold with a score of 8 to 7 hits.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to make it.” Holguin said after the match. “First the qualifications, then the semi-final, a shoot-off, the medal match, and another shoot-off… I don’t know how many targets I had to break. It has been tough, but I was confident all the way through!”
“After the semi-final, during the shoot-off with my teammate Haldeman, for a moment I thought I was going to be tired at the end. But I stopped myself immediately, because I knew it was going to hurt me. The last time I went through a long final, I performed poorly in the medal match. So I zeroed in, I told myself I was shooting great, I kept on going, and luckily I made it.” He said, commenting on today’s final.
“I like the way that the doubles are thrown, I really enjoy it, and that helps me to shoot better, my motivation is up.” Jeffrey added.
“I secured an Olympic spot for my country, which was the goal.” USA has now reached the maximum number of Olympic Quotas allowed for the Double Trap Men event (2), as Joshua Richmond had already claimed one at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada.