Rachel didn't breeze through fifteen consecutive victories. Her rivals out-paced her a number of times in timed training and qualification rounds. Tahnee Seagrave, Myriam Nicole, Tracey Hannah, and Manon Carpenter all took some heat out of Rachel in quali's this season, with Seagrave only 0.7 seconds shy of the win in Lenzerheide. She had her own daemons to fight as well - back and shoulder injuries would plague her all season - but in every case, Atherton managed to assemble and execute a victorious final round.
The pressure of carrying the number-one plate and the media's expectation of victory would be burden enough to crush most athletes, or at the least, cloud their judgement and dilute their focus enough to blunt their competitive edge.
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