Mwangi Kirubi wins gold for WRC Safari Rally photo at global awards

Mwangi Kirubi’s gold-winning shot stood out because it nailed the one thing motorsport photography has to solve in real time: chaos that still reads cleanly. In Emerging Ford, he caught Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka in a Ford Puma Rally1 car during the shakedown stage at Sleeping Warrior in Naivasha, Kenya, with the Safari Rally’s fine fesh fesh dust hanging in the air and turning the frame into a proper rally image instead of just a fast car photo. The dust was not a nuisance here. It was the picture.

That image earned Kirubi Gold in the Motor Sports category at the 2026 World Sports Photography Awards, with the award announced on January 15, 2026. It also made him the first Kenyan to win Gold at the competition, a milestone that gives the result extra weight beyond the trophy shelf. For Kenya’s photography scene, and for anyone who has chased action in ugly, unpredictable conditions, the win lands as proof that a local photographer can go head-to-head with the best sports shooters in the world and come out on top.

The 2026 edition of the awards was the most competitive yet, with a record 23,130 images submitted by 4,120 photographers from 123 countries. The competition is free to enter and is judged by senior figures from sport, media, brands and photography, which is part of what makes a Gold here matter. Canon was the official imaging partner for the 2026 awards, underscoring how seriously the contest is taken inside the sports photography industry.

The Safari Rally backdrop makes the picture even stronger. The 2025 WRC Safari Rally Kenya ran from March 20 to 23, 2025, and Sleeping Warrior was used as a shakedown stage and later a competitive stage. WRC describes Safari Rally Kenya as one of the toughest and most unpredictable events on the calendar, and that reputation is earned by rough terrain, deep ruts and sudden rainfall. In that environment, a photographer has almost no margin for slow reactions or sloppy framing.

Kirubi’s win fits the rally as much as the awards table. He did not just photograph speed. He used timing, motion and dust to make the speed visible, and that is exactly the kind of frame that separates a good motorsport picture from one that takes gold.