Photographer behind viral Jack Hughes Olympics image reveals how she got it: ‘Still in shock’

Getty Images photographer Elsa Garrison called it a mix between skill and “luck of the draw” when it came to the now-iconic picture she shot of Jack Hughes after he led the United States men’s hockey team to a gold medal on Sunday.

The photograph — a gap-toothed and bloody-mouthed Hughes with the American flag draped over his shoulders and his right fist up in the air — has become a national sensation.

The sports photog said she knew where to go because she had previously scoped out where the families of the Team USA players were sitting, and expected them to go in that direction after the game. 

Jack Hughes of Team United States celebrates after their gold-medal win on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images

“I was running around the outskirts of the rink like a crazy woman,” Garrison told CBS News. 

“Even though sports are very spontaneous, there is a lot of planning I do in my head with all these different scenarios,” she added. “So when things happen in a split second, I know exactly what I’m going to do, and I just go after it.” 

It only seems fitting that Garrison was the one to capture the image of Hughes. She said she regularly covers Hughes during the NHL season when he plays for the Devils. 

Garrison called the photo a moment that sports photographers “love to capture” and that “you just have to kind of react to the scenarios and the scene around you and have that game plan.”

In an interview with Front Office Sports, Garrison said some people have already compared the snapshot to some of the most memorable pictures in American sports history. 

Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes of Team United States celebrate a 2-1 victory against Canada on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images

“There are people that are talking about, like, ‘Oh, this is as good as the 1980 [Miracle on Ice] Heinz Kluetmeier picture. Or the Sonny Liston-Muhammad Ali picture that Neil Leifer shot,” she said. “And those are pretty big people to be in a group with as far as great sports moments.

“That’s flattering, but I’m still kind of like, ‘What? Really?’”