Photos of the Day: The women athletes of ESPN’s Body Issue

If, like me, you’re not quite ready to stop worshiping female athletes now that the World Cup is over, check out ESPN’s latest Body Issue to see nude photos of some badass women in sports, including soccer star Ali Krieger. 

In the past, I, and others, have criticized the Body Issue for featuring the female athletes in more passive poses compared to their male counterparts, but this year’s issue is pretty solid. According to my (not very scientific) perusal of the images in the collection, most athletes of both genders are shown in action shots — doing what they do best. If anything, I noticed more men than women just chilling.

And there’s decent body diversity too — proving that, while “athletic” has unfortunately come to define a fairly narrow ideal, there is truly no single “athletic” body type. As track and field hammer thrower Amanda Bingson, featured in the photo above and also on one of the covers says, “There are definitely things that I can do that skinnier people can’t do. But then there are things that skinnier people do that I’ll never be able to do, like run a marathon.”

Turns out “real” female athletes, kinda like “real” women, come in all shapes and sizes.

Soccer player Ali Krieger (Photo credit: ESPN)

Golfer Sadena Parks (Photo credit: ESPN)

Basketball player Brittney Griner (Photo credit: ESPN)

Header image credit: ESPN