![\"\"](\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/KCM_ChiefsVsTex_122124_EJC_-13.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) smiles while greeting fans and giving them high fives following the Chiefs\u2019 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.\u00a0Emily Curiel<\/span>\u00a0ecuriel@kcstar.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The best sports photograph taken in 2024 anywhere in the world was of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.<\/p>\n During the Chiefs\u2019 26-7 win over the Miami Dolphins in an AFC Wild Card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Mahomes was tackled by Miami safety DeShon Elliott. A brutal cold snap saw the game start with a temperature of negative-4 degrees, and the frigid air was to blame for Mahomes\u2019 helmet cracking after the hit.<\/p>\n A chunk of Mahomes\u2019 helmet broke off, and The Star\u2019s Emily Curiel was the only photographer that night to capture the moment perfectly.<\/p>\n Curiel won first place in the sports action category in the\u00a082nd Annual Pictures of the Year International competition. Pictures of the Year International is the oldest photojournalism competition in the world.<\/p>\n Finalists for the award included journalists from Getty Images, Agence France-Press, the Independent and Reuters. Those\u00a0photos were\u00a0from the World Series, the Tour de France, the World Aquatic Championships in Doha, Qatar, and a European soccer match.<\/p>\n Other pictures that received an Award of Excellence were from ski jumping, tennis and speed skating.<\/p>\n But Curiel\u2019s photo of Mahomes was deemed best of all. She described getting the shot\u00a0in a first-person story\u00a0shortly after the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI fired off a sequence of photos that captured mostly the grass on the field as I worked to lock in on Mahomes scrambling with the ball,\u201d Curiel wrote. \u201cMy 400mm lens worked at locking in its focus on Mahomes while he scrambled toward me. The players were closing in and I struggled to adjust myself in the short 40-second long play. Amid the chaos of the moment my ADHD led me to focus on Mahomes\u2019 facial expression more than anything else.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the play was over, I didn\u2019t think there was anything extraordinary about it other than it was a good scramble by Mahomes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile selecting photos to send to my editor from the sideline, I saw Mahomes switching out his helmet. I thought: Hmm, that\u2019s odd. I wonder why he switched out his helmet? At this point I didn\u2019t realize that his helmet had cracked.\u201d<\/p>\n But Curiel had captured the moment the helmet broke and it has earned her worldwide recognition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/latest-news\/clw312\/picture304508081\/alternates\/FREE_1140\/KCM_012_ChiefsDolphins_0113%20(2)_fitted.jpeg\" "\\"KCM_012_ChiefsDolphins_0113")
\n
\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nXem b\u00e0i vi\u1ebft n\u00e0y tr\u00ean Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n