Olympic-Bound Austen Smith Wins Skeet World Cup Gold Medal In Italy

Austen Smith celebrates a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on May 10, 2021 in Desenzano del Garda, Italy.

In a year in which she’ll make her Olympic debut, Austen Smith is looking in fine form with her gold medal win Monday in skeet at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in Lonato, Italy.
Smith scored 55 out of 60 in the final round to earn her first career senior world cup medal. She topped Amber Hill of Great Britain, who finished in second with 52, and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, who was third with 43. 
The 19-year-old Smith is a rising star on the U.S. shooting team. She won a silver medal in skeet at the 2017 junior world championships, then followed that up with a bronze in 2018 and a mixed team gold medal in 2019. That same year, she won her first junior world cup gold medal. In March of last year, Smith and teammate Amber English each qualified for Tokyo at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Shotgun. 
Smith and English, along with Samantha Simonton, are also competing in Lonato in the women’s team competition, qualifying second behind the hosts. That final takes place Tuesday. Skeet mixed team takes place Wednesday.
On the men’s side, two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock won silver. Hancock’s 55 points were one point off of first-place Azmy Mehelba of Egypt. Hancock is also returning to Tokyo this summer for a fourth Olympic Games.