Rachel Atherton

Rachel Atherton

Rachel Laura Atherton (born December 6, 1987 near Salisbury , Great Britain ) is a British mountain biker who specializes in the mountain bike discipline downhill .

Life and accomplishments

Rachel Atherton became the first British woman to win the elite UCI Downhill World Championship. Her lead over the runner-up Sabrina Jonnier was 11.99 seconds in the final.

Atherton began riding BMX at the age of eight and was already riding mountain bikes at the age of eleven. Rachel has been riding in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for the Animal Commencal International Pro Mountain Bike Race Team since 2007, together with her brothers Gee Atherton and Dan Atherton . In 2007 she won the Downhill World Cup race in Marburg ( Slovenia ), in 2008 the races in Vallnord ( Andorra ), Mont Sainte-Anne ( Canada ), Bromont (Canada) and Schladming ( Austria ) and thus won the overall Downhill World Cup.

Her life as a professional biker and that of her two brothers is also presented in the short documentary "The Atherton Project" and broadcast on freecaster.tv.

In 2009 Rachel Atherton had to take a break for 14 months because she was hit by a pick-up truck on her racing bike in California on April 18 and a nerve in her left shoulder was torn in the accident.

From 2012 to 2015 Rachel Atherton drove for the GT Factory Racing Team with her siblings Gee Atherton and Dan Atherton. She has been driving for the Trek Factory Racing Team since the 2016 season.

In 2016 she won the Downhill World Championship on a Trek Session 9.9.

In 2017 Atherton won the Laureus World Sports Award in the Action Sportsman of the Year category .

Web links

• Rachel Atherton in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Team Animal Commencal

Individual evidence

1. ^ Downhill World Championship 2016. In: Redbull.com. Redbull, accessed December 27, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Rachel Atherton's Trek Session 9.9. Retrieved December 27, 2017 (English).