"VAN" (Sports Desk - 13.10.2025) :: The United States' Vincent Hancock continued to add to his weighty medal cabinet by claiming his fifth world title in the men's skeet, adding to the American success at the 2025 ISSF World Championship Shotgun at the Malakasa Shooting Range near Athens, Greece.
He was joined on the podium by two final debutants in the form of Daniel Korcak of Czechia and Denmark's Emil Kjelgaard Petersen.
Witnessing the brilliance of Hancock, who would miss just one target, was a host of dignitaries including the ISSF President Luciano Rossi; European Olympic Committees President and IOC Executive Board member Spyros Capralos; ISSF Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di San Giacomo; Greek Secretary General of Sports, Georgios Mavrotas; Hellenic Shooting Federation President, Athanasios Papageorgiou; Hellenic Olympic Committee President, Isidoros Kouvelos; and Organising Committee President, Ioannis Kilakos.
Others in attendance were Vice President of the Greek Government, Kotsis Hatzidakis; Members of the Greek Parliament, Dora Bakoyiannis and Dimitris Kalogeropoulos; and businessman Petros Pappas.
The Final
Vincent Hancock is in a league of his own in the men's skeet. He is a four-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion, and would head into the final as the top qualifier and the most predictable winner of the men's skeet title.
However, he would be joined in the final by the man who defeated him to the gold medal in Osijek three years ago, Egypt's Azmy Mehelba, as well as Sydney 2000 Olympic champion, Mikola Milchev from Ukraine, who looked to become the oldest-ever world medallist at the age of 57.
Daniel Korcak was making his World Championship debut as a finalist, joined by his better-known Czech teammate Jakub Tomecek, the highest-ranked athlete in the field, with a strong showing on the World Cup circuit this season. Also joining them was 2017 world junior champion and 2023 ISSF World Cup Final champion, Emil Kjelgaard Petersen from Denmark.
Mikola Milchev finished sixth in the men's skeet final
Hancock starts dominantly, Milchev unable to make history
It was a perfect start for Hancock, Petersen and Tomecek, who cleared all of their first 10 targets, followed by Mehelba and Korcak on nine, while Milchev's medal hopes looked to be faltering having only scored seven.
Hancock would take the outright lead when Tomecek missed one of his next four, while Petersen missed two. The American would continue on a rampage, clearing all of his first 20 targets to maintain a lead. After that early miss for Korcak, he was now in a good run of form, sitting behind the great on 19. Tomecek was next on 18, followed by Mehelba and Petersen on 17. For Milchev, too many errors early on meant he would struggle to keep in contact and exited in sixth with a score of 15. It means Canadian women's shooting pioneer Susan Nattrass remains the oldest World Championship medallist. She took trap world gold in 2006 in Zagreb at the age of 56.
Czechs take it to Hancock as top three pull away
Hancock remained unflappable, keeping his run going to 30 targets. However, Korcak and Tomecek would not relent either. Korcak would get through the next 10 targets successfully to keep it close with a score of 29. Tomecek was still in contention, but would miss once, bringing him back to 27, but still in contention for the medals.
The same could not be said for Mehelba and Petersen, who continued to drift. The Egyptian missed twice and the Dane once, just after Milchev's elimination. They remained clean for the next six shots, but the two misses is what ultimately led to Mehelba being the one to leave in fifth place, as Petersen kept ahead, crucially. The man wearing the second bib would leave in fifth on 25 to Petersen's 26.
Daniel Korcak put up a strong showing against Vincent Hancock to take silver
Czech cracks allows opportunity for rivals
Korcak's streak of successive strikes would end at 30, as he missed on target 34 and the gap to Hancock opened up to two. With the form of the American, this would be incredibly difficult to come back from. That would then grow to three as Hancock remained clean and Korcak missed on target 39.
Meanwhile, Tomecek looked destined for another fourth-place finish this season. A miss on target 34 brought him level with Petersen, who was ahead of him on bib number. But it would not have to go to a countback in the end as the Czech missed the double and with it, created a chasm of two points. He need a miracle and would not get it as Petersen scored all four remaining shots to go one behind Korcak with a total of 36. It was a round to forget for Tomecek who scored five from a possible 10. For the third time this year, he had finished fourth in ISSF competition.
Hancock wins fifth world title in style
By target 40, it looked as if Vincent Hancock was on his way to the world title, barring any uncharacteristic errors. He was unable to finish with a clean card as his first miss came on target 44.
Elsewhere, Korcak had composed himself after those two misses to get back to good shooting, closing the gap to two and importantly keeping ahead of Petersen, who would miss on target 44 too. The gap was now two back to the Czech athlete with four shots to go. Korcak needed two to secure the silver medal - and he would get that, but only just. A double miss effectively ended his hopes of taking the gold, with the score between Hancock and himself now at 49-44, but it would keep him ahead of Petersen, who was unable to catch him due to his bib number. The Dane finished strong on 45 too, taking the bronze medal.
While not quite being invincible today, Hancock was as close as you get to that. He cleared the next 10 and finished with a score of 59. His fifth world title and his seventh world medal puts more evidence towards why he is considered one of the greatest of all time.
Korcak would end on 55, a tremendous effort on his senior ISSF World Championship debut, taking the silver. Petersen would take his first senior world medal with the bronze in what was his first final. His previous best was ninth in Baku two years ago.
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