By Sue George  Sunday, September 1, 2013 5.12pm  British rider
crushes competition with eight-second winning margin  This
article was originally published on  Rachel Atherton (Great
Britain) won the elite women's downhill world championship in
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on Sunday afternoon. Frenchwoman
Emmeline Ragot earned the silver medal while Australian Tracey
Hannah claimed bronze.  Atherton was celebrating her second-ever
downhill world title. Her first was in Val di Sole, Italy in
2008.  "It was a shock to come here," said Atherton, who had
never previously raced in Pietermaritzburg, having missed the
earlier World Cups here due to injuries.  "The track was way
harder than I expected. It's been such a close season, you don't
have much time to prepare for this specific race. I was pretty
nervous and didn't know how anyone would go. I figured a lot of
people took it easy in the timed run, and I didn't know how they
would go today."  Atherton was the fastest women during the time
session.  Former four