One Extraordinary Photo: Golden moment as Italy celebrates luge win

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — A single frame has crystallized the elation of a nation, as veteran Associated Press photojournalist Aijaz Rahi captured Italy’s luge victory in a golden moment on home ice. The Bangalore-based Rahi, whose 30-year career has taken him from the front lines of Kashmir and Afghanistan to the world’s most prestigious sporting arenas, pressed the shutter at the precise instant the Italian squad erupted in celebration, sealing a historic win at the Cortina track.

The image, already circulating across global newswires, shows athletes and coaches wrapped in the tricolor, arms raised against the backdrop of the snow-dusted Dolomites. Rahi’s positioning at the finish curve—earned through years of covering high-speed winter events—allowed him to freeze both the velocity of the sled and the raw emotion spilling onto the ice.

Editors in AP’s European photo desk described the shot as “the definitive frame of the championship,” noting how Rahi’s conflict-zone reflexes translated into split-second timing under pressure. The frame stands as a testament to local pride on a day when Italian sliders reversed decades of near-misses, sending fans streaming onto the track for an impromptu celebration that photographers rarely witness so close.

For Rahi, the assignment offered a lighter chapter in a portfolio dominated by breaking news and human drama. Yet the image carries the same narrative power he has brought to every assignment: one click, one moment, one nation united in jubilation.

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