Vincent Hancock cemented his status as a skeet shooting great after winning his fourth Olympic gold medal, beating protege and fellow American Conner Prince at the Paris Games on Saturday.

The 35-year-old qualified behind Prince but dug deep into his vast experience to prevail 58-57 to secure his fourth gold in five Olympic appearances.

Hancock becomes only the sixth athlete to win the same Olympic individual event four times. “I’ll never get tired, it’s something I work for,” the American said when asked if his Olympic victories were getting predictable. But he had the confidence that once he made the six-shooter final, a medal was well within his reach.

“I was thinking ‘God, please help me get through this round and let me have a chance in the final. If I can just get to the final, I know I can do it’.”

After Taiwan’s bronze medallist Lee Meng Yuan dropped out of the race for the gold, the Americans were tied at 54-54 and Prince missed the first in his final sequence of four shots, which proved decisive.

Hancock needed four hits to write his name into the record books, and the American did just that before making a heart gesture to his wife and kids in the stands.

The mentor-protege camaraderie was evident as Hancock and Prince frequently high-fived celebrating each other’s success.

Earlier, the women’s 25 metres pistol event provided intense drama culminating in shoot-offs to determine the gold and bronze medallists.

Yang Ji-in struck gold in her dream Olympic debut but the 21-year-old was made to work for it by local favourite Camille Jedrzejewski, who won silver.

Both the shooters were tied at 37 in the final, forcing a shoot-off in which Yang eventually prevailed 4-1. “This gold medal has proved I am the world’s best right now,” said Yang, her eyes already on the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

“I will have to train harder to try to put the flag highest once again in LA.”

Jedrzejewski was effectively out of the gold medal reckoning after missing the first three shots in the shoot-off, while Yang hit two of them.

“I lost maybe because my emotions were running very high, but I’m happy with my silver.”

“There was a lot of emotion in the hall, and it was a really intense competition.”

Hungary’s Veronika Major won the bronze, also via shoot-off, denying India’s Manu Bhaker a third medal at the Paris Games.

Georgian great Nino Salukvadze finished last in the qualifying round in her record-equalling 10th Olympic appearance.