The photo of the year winner is here (and, for once, I called it)

World Athletics just published their choice for the Athletics Photograph of the year. As you know I am following the end-of-the-year WA prizes and I am making my own predictions. In the case of the photos they started by giving the three finalists before revealing the shortlisted ones.

Immediately upon seeing the three finalists I chose this one

And (drum roll) today we learned that it's the winner. It's a dramatic moment and in fact one may think that it was game over for Lea Meyer who fell headfirst into the river. Well, she managed to finish her race (although she did not qualify for the final) in a quite respectable 9:30.81 and one month later she won the silver medal in the European Championships with a personal best of 9:15.35.

To tell truth, I was not confident that the photo I chose was the one to win. I was thinking that, while the photo of Meyer's fall had more drama, the photo of the victory of J. Richards at the Commonwealth Games

was more "artistic".

By the way, there is another photo of Meyer's fall among the shortlisted ones, but clearly the one that was selected was the best of the two. 

There are many more nice photos, like the one of S. Miller-Uibo framed by the shadow of the stadium's roof

or the one of D. Kambundji, disconsolate after a fall in hurdles during this winter Indoor World's.

And if you are looking for drama, here is the photo of S. Zhoya hitting hard and breaking a hurdle at this year's European's.

A great collection overall, so, if you are a photo fan, don't hesitate to spend a time perusing the World Athletics page.