The best sports photos from January

Detroit Lions running back Saquon Barkley turns the defensive double team to his advantage to grab a couple of extra yards in the tackle.

Bobsled pilot Donald Holstein and his team roll back the years with this vintage equipment on the artificial ice of Königssee ins Tal in the Bavarian Alps.

Chinese climber Lai Chi-wai doesn't like to leave his wheelchair behind, even when he leaves terra firma.

This circus shot from Caroline Wozniacki turned heads in the last 16 of the Australian Open. The Dane went on to win her first ever Grand Slam title a week later.

Barcelona's Gerard Pique brings a touch of wrestling to La Liga. Believe it or not, while the Catalan did pick up a yellow card in stoppage time in this game against Real Sociedad, he avoided a booking for this less-than-subtle transgression.

A well-executed line-out can sometimes look like a flagrant assault on the laws of gravity. Really, it's just a combination of a well-timed jump from Saracens' Calum Clark, coupled with a big boost from his teammates. Teams are so slick at this nowadays, it's rare for the defending team to even try to intercept the throw, as they used to every time.

The ball's still live, even when the players are on their backsides. It's debatable who's the most committed of this pair at the European handball championships in Croatia: Spain's Raul Entrerrios or Slovenia's Vid Kavticnik.

Refined as Leroy Sane's ball control might be, this first touch doesn't appear to be entirely planned. The Manchester City winger suffered another blow later in January, picking up ankle ligament damage that is likely to sideline him for six or seven weeks.

His Dad's got one, and this Chelsea fan wants to look the part at Stamford Bridge with a jersey of his own. Aiming for the stars, young Christopher holds up a sign asking star winger Eden Hazard if he might donate his. The timing would have been excellent, as Christopher points out — it's his seventh birthday.

Irma Karlsson and her mount Chacconu could have timed this one better. Instead of clearing the bar at the CSI tournament in Neustadt, they carried it with them to a new height.

Even now it's moved to the deserts of Peru, the Dakar Rally still provides some extraordinary scenery and some terrifying sand dunes for drivers. The rules for negotiating these steep dips are simple, if a little counterintuitive: don't brake (the front end might dig in and trigger a slide), and keep the wheels and the car pointing straight down the dune (to limit the chances of rolling the car).

Four Hills ski jumper Vojtech Stursa's visor provides a unique, reflected view of the ramp and the jump as he perceives it.