Rachel Atherton

Rachel Laura Atherton (born 6 December 1987) is a British professional downhill mountain bike racer, and is a multiple time UCI World Champion.

Atherton began riding BMX at the age of 8 and mountain biking at the age of 11. She was both Sunday Times' Sportswoman of the Year and BBC Midlands Junior Sportswoman of the Year in 2005, and then BBC Midlands Sportswoman of the Year in 2008. In October 2015, a video of Atherton overtaking 91 competitors in five minutes during a race went viral.

In September 2012, Atherton took the final World Cup round on a diverse and testing Norwegian track and clinched the overall title, despite missing the opening race of the season. The Norwegian race was the final round of a seven-round series in which Atherton claimed a win in 5 of the 6 events she raced.

In June 2016, Atherton became the first woman to win 10 consecutive rounds of the World Cup, surpassing the record previously held by Anne-Caroline Chausson. In September that same year, she also achieved the unprecedented feat of winning every round in a World Cup season.

Atherton keeps the rainbow jerseys she won for being world champion in a birdcage, so that she can "take them out, touch them and remember those races."