The most stunning photos across women's sports from the last month — winter sports, national championships, and more

From the photographer, Catherine Ivill:

The venue was quite small for this event so I was limited as to where I could shoot from to get a clean background, especially when a skater spun in the air. Once I had found a great position, I was able to capture the skater's skill and athleticism. Another important factor which brought it all together was her costume. For me, it's the pop of color against the white ice that makes the skater stand out.

From the photographer, Catherine Ivill:

Having never photographed figure skating prior to this event, I was keen to make the most of it and try different photographic techniques. I captured this image using a slow shutter speed and I love that the image has focused on the concentration in her eyes as she holds this incredible body shape during her routine.

From the photographer, Lintao Zhang:

I took this photo during the FIS Continental Cup Ski Jumping Women competition, a test event for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. In the ski jumping competition, I found that the light in the morning shone on the snow track like an open mouth. After trying a few times, I took this photo at the right time as Lidiia Iakovleva of Russia jumped.

From the photographer, Christian Petersen:

The Women's Freeski Big Air World Cup finals was held this year in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Truly an incredible event for so many young and talented athletes. With the 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner, this was a great opportunity to showcase their skills and prepare for the highest levels of competition.

This photo depicts Sarah Hoefflin, one the sport's top skiers, competing on the final day. For this shot, I got down very low and used the snow to fill the foreground, leaving only a small window of sky for her to fly through. The end result worked out well because the snow almost appears like a layer of clouds below. Hopefully Sarah gets a chance to see it and performs great in the Beijing Olympic Games.

From the photographer, Yong Teck Lim:

This is only my second time photographing table tennis, and this happened early on the first day of the event. The sport moved so quickly that moments are blink-and-you-miss-it. Most athletes tend to celebrate toward familiarity — to coaches, team benches, or fans. Japanese athletes are known to be an expressive bunch, and to top it off, Hitomi Sato was in a tight contest against Austria's Sofia Polcanova.

Having gotten the bread and butter out of the way, I took a gamble and moved to a position adjacent to her coach, hoping to get a big reaction at some point. With the help of Lady Luck, this celebration came after Sato broke a deuce to take the lead in the final game. That was the biggest burst of celebration I got from her throughout the short tournament, and it got me amped for the rest of the assignment!

From the photographer, Lintao Zhang:

Here, Diana Toropchenova of Russia competed in the Women's normal hill individual finals during the FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup. During the ski jumping competition at night, the straight track looks perfect, making the picture look different from how we capture athletes during the daytime.

From the photographer, Dean Mouhtaropoulos:

Jacqueline Loelling of Germany was one of the favorites and would be one of the last athletes to make it down the mountain. The LED lights that lit this part of the track all flickered at different rates so every frame I shot had a very different look to them.

Here, I was lucky that the lights flickered in a way to almost put on a spotlight just as she raised her hand in celebration after seeing her time. The framing and shallow depth of field was something I worked on to make sure that by the time the faster athletes made it down the mountain I knew what aesthetic each image would have.

From the photographer, Carmen Mandato:

Julianna Pena defeating Amanda Nunes, who is widely considered the best female MMA fighter of all time, was considered one of the biggest upsets of all time. The approach to combat sports like MMA is to stay sharp on every strike because every strike and takedown could be the knockout or defining moment of the fight's momentum.

Nunes is stronger on her feet whereas Pena's ground game is her advantage. Knowing that, I tried to document strikes early on to tell the story of who's fight plan was playing out and where the momentum was turning to. Fighters are extremely powerful, and the impact of their strikes can be seen visibly in their appointments. Those are the highly visual elements you hope to capture while documenting a fight.

From the photographer, Sean M. Haffey:

With the Winter Olympics in Beijing right around the corner, I paid close attention to the Chinese snowboarders who look to make a good showing at the Games. I have covered the Chinese athletes the last four years and each year they climb higher in the standings.

In this photo, Xueton Cai leaves the halfpipe in a spectacular fashion, high and fast with real style. I made sure to be in front of where she boosted out of pipe to show her height and composure in the air. China should be a formidable contender in the Women's halfpipe with Xueton Cai being one of the new stars.

From the photographer, Dean Mouhtaropoulos:

This was my first weekend covering a Monobob or Bobsleigh event and it's a sport with many possibilities for nice images. This image was one I knew I wanted to get but getting the light, timing and best athletes all in one image was the challenge.

Here, I was lucky to find a spot where no other photographer was at the time. The sun was almost gone and the light in the track and ambient light were close enough in exposure to work in the image I was trying to get. The trees with snow made a nice panning color and shape and getting a slow enough camera shutter would work if I had a steady enough hand.

The Maple Leaf of Canada in red stands out so you don't have to look to hard for the athlete's country and the motion in the pan gives the viewer a small sample of the speed Christine De Bruin was going at the time.

From the photographer, Francois Nel:

After covering swimming for a few days, it becomes quite challenging to find new angles and show each event in a different way. It was during the Women's 50m Butterfly that I decided to look for a different picture instead of the typical butterfly race picture with a head out of the water. There was black background that worked in my favor here, and it helps to isolate the subject, Jenjira Srissard of Thailand.

From the photographer, Ezra Shaw:

It is always tough waking up when it's still dark out and heading out to the mountain before you know if there is going to be any nice light on the course yet. But then you realize it's worth it when you get to the slopestyle course and there is a touch of early morning sun lighting up the fog sitting in the valley as Annika Morgan of Germany takes a practice run before the start of the women's finals at the Dew Tour in Colorado.

The fog burned off about 10-15 minutes after I got to this spot. I was able to capture a few different women going over this jump, but some were too high or too low, and others didn't have the right form - this one of Morgan worked out just right.

From the photographer, Ezra Shaw:

Chloe Kim is always one of the favorites to win the halfpipe event. Her teammate Maddie Mastro, who had qualified in first place, crashed out and was injured on her first run and was unable to compete in the rest of the competition.

That meant that Kim, who had qualified in second place, would be the last person to go in the event. Kim had crashed in her first two runs, and then on her final run, she laid down an almost perfect run. She was overcome with emotion after her run, and ended up winning the event.

From the photographer, Francois Nel:

The High Dive is always an exciting event to cover, however this one was pretty tough due to the limited angles I could shoot from. The light this morning was also not in my favor as a photographer.

I decided to go on the media boat and see if I could find an angle to frame the diver with the Etihad Arena in background. I got lucky with Adriana Jiménez of Mexico coming into the frame at the right time and place. It looks like she's soaring through the air.

From the photographer, Ezra Shaw:

This was the final day of the event. We had had some horrible weather with a lot of cloudy days. On the final day, I knew that it was going to be nice out. I wasn't sure if I should stay at the bottom of the superpipe or hike up to the top.

I was down at the bottom for the start of practice and noticed that Chloe Kim mixed up her routine from the qualifying day and was doing her first hit on the opposite side of the pipe. I decided to hike up the pipe as the sun came up and was able to get one shot of her just as the sun was coming up over the hill. I really like how the sun lit up her ponytail.

From the photographer, Francois Nel:

My idea for this photo was to frame the diver with the Etihad Arena in the background. As photographers, we always try to include a landmark or logo in the picture to give it a sense of place. The Etihad Arena made for a really good background with the afternoon light giving it a golden glow. I was waiting for the diver to be in the correct position, and it all came together in the last session of the day.