Alcaraz Shadow Wins World Sports Photography Awards 2026

A single strip of shadow has stolen the present on the World Sports Photography Awards, with a body so clear it seems like the game itself briefly held its breath. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, caught on the exact millisecond his racket meets the ball, is the topic of EDGAR SU’S overall-winning {photograph}: “CARLOS’ SHADOW HITS A BALL” — an image that turns a tennis level into one thing nearer to geometry.

The picture was taken throughout Alcaraz’s fourth-round match in opposition to Britain’s Jack Draper on the 2025 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia. And whereas tennis has by no means been wanting noise — the squeak of footwear, the snap of strings, the collective gasp of a crowd that thinks it is aware of what’s coming — this shot wins by displaying much less. Just racket, ball, and the form of shadow that makes you surprise if daylight has been taking teaching classes.

Why the profitable picture works: simplicity below stress

There’s a cause the most effective sports activities pictures don’t merely doc motion; they translate it. In “CARLOS’ SHADOW HITS A BALL”, the shadow does half the storytelling, stripping the scene all the way down to pure timing. You can really feel the contact level — that candy, unforgiving junction the place physics and nerve determine whether or not a degree lives or dies.

It’s additionally why the World Sports Photography Awards lands as greater than a trophy record. The competitors positions itself as the one world sports activities awards devoted completely to sports activities imagery, drawing submissions from the most effective skilled sport photographers — the individuals who could make a fraction of a re-examination inevitable.

Record-breaking yr for the World Sports Photography Awards

This yr’s version was essentially the most profitable within the competitors’s historical past. A record-breaking 23,130 photos have been submitted by 4,120 photographers representing 123 international locations, underlining the dimensions — and the worldwide urge for food — for sport captured at its sharpest edge.

The total winner now leads a set of 24 category-topping pictures spanning greater than 50 sports activities, together with American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Equestrian, Golf, Racquet Sports, Winter Sports and Football. In different phrases: in case your sport entails velocity, energy, steadiness, influence, grace, grit or the occasional wobble, there’s doubtless a profitable body that understands it higher than your final three spotlight reels.

Craft nonetheless beats the gadget (even when the gadget is excellent)

The awards’ theme this yr is evident sufficient: know-how could also be sprinting, however craft remains to be doing the profitable. The distinctive high quality and variety of the submissions level to a easy fact — the photographer’s eye nonetheless issues most, as a result of seeing the second is tougher than recording it.

Richard Shepherd, Product Marketing Senior Manager, Imaging at Canon Europe, provides: “The images recognised this year showcase photographers at their creative best, pushing boundaries, seeing differently and capturing sport in ways we’ve not experienced before. Canon’s role is to support that creativity through equipment photographers can trust under pressure, enabling them to create different in the most demanding moments.”

It’s the “under pressure” half that issues. A tennis rally doesn’t pause for autofocus. A finish-line lunge doesn’t anticipate a second take. The photographer has to foretell the second earlier than the second exists — after which ship when it does.

From tennis shadows to golf swings: the broader enchantment

Even if you happen to’re not a tennis obsessive, the Alcaraz picture has a common sports activities logic. The shadow might be a golfer’s fingers at influence, a sprinter’s spike mid-stride, a keeper’s glove simply brushing the nook. That’s why the World Sports Photography Awards assortment tends to journey properly throughout audiences: it’s not concerning the sport you comply with, however the second you recognise.

Where to see the profitable pictures

All the profitable photos are showcased within the World Sports Photography Awards website.