Breaking news sports fans (excuse the pun…) but defending World Champion Rachel Atherton will not race World Champs in Australia.
The news just landed from Atherton HQ to say that Rachel Atherton will not compete at this weekend’s UCI Downhill World Champs in Cairns.
According to her team, Rachel crashed during practice and has broken her collarbone. According to Trek Factory Racing the crash happened during timed training.
“In her timed training run this morning she caught her hand on a bank, she was spat over the bars and landed hard on her shoulder. X-rays have confirmed a fracture to her left clavicle”.
The injury is the second big set back for Rachel Atherton in 2017, coming alongside a dislocated shoulder at Fort William World Cup.
“I was feeling good today, back to my old self, riding strongly and super-confident as I attacked my timed training run. I’m absolutely devastated that the weekend has ended like this but I’ll be cheering on the rest of the British team with all of my heart”.
Rachel Atherton.
So … bad news for the reigning World Champ and a huge ‘get well soon’ from all of us here at Wideopen. We’re looking forward to seeing Rach put the 2017 behind her and move on to crushing it in 2018.
If you want to know how to watch this weekend’s World Champs in Cairns, click here.
Or you can see our first photo story from the race here.
