Sports Photography at its Finest: Winners of 2026 World Awards

A shadow image of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz’s racket perfectly hitting the ball has taken the top prize at The World Sports Photography Awards 2026.

Edgar Su’s winning image, Carlos’ Shadow Hit a Ball, was taken during Alcaraz’s fourth-round tennis match against Britain’s Jack Draper at the 2025 Australian Open hosted in Melbourne.

The winning image leads a collection of 24 category-topping photographs spanning more than 50 sports, including American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Equestrian, Golf, Racquet Sports, Winter Sports, and Football.

Category Winners

This year’s awards mark the most successful edition in the competition’s history. A record-breaking 23,130 images were submitted by 4,120 photographers representing 123 countries, reinforcing the Awards’ status as one of the most internationally diverse and widely recognised sports photography competitions in the world.

This is also the first year that Canon, a major player in the sports photography world, is an official World Sports Photography Awards partner.

“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,” says Richard Shepherd, Product Marketing Senior Manager, Imaging at Canon Europe.

“Canon’s role is to support that creativity through equipment photographers can trust under pressure, enabling them to create different in the most demanding moment.”

All the winning images are showcased on the World Sports Photography Awards website. PetaPixel made a selection of 50 finalists last month.