Downhill mountain biking (DH) is a style of mountain biking practiced on steep, rough terrain that often features jumps, drops, rock gardens and other obstacles. Jumps can be up to and including 12 meters, and drops can be greater than 3 meters.
Steve Peat, nicknamed "Sheffield Steel" or more commonly just "Peaty", is a professional downhill mountain biker who was born and lives in Chapeltown, Sheffield, England. Prior to his career as a professional mountain biker Peat was employed as a plumber by James Lamb. He is married to Adele Croxon and has two sons, Jake and George Peat.
Mountain bike racing is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Durango, Colorado. The first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series took place in 1988. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. Cross-country racing was the only World Cup sport at this time. In 1993, a six-event downhill World Cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.
Greg Minnaar is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. He has won four world championships, the second most amongst still active racers, and third all time behind Nicols Vouilloz's seven titles. He currently competes in the UCI Downhill MTB World Cup. Minnaar has the most world cup wins ever, with 23 career victories. He rides for the Santa Cruz Syndicate team.
Four-cross (4X), also called mountain-cross, not to be confused with fourcross, is a relatively new style of mountain bike racing where four bikers race downhill on a prepared, BMX-like track, simply trying to get down first. These bikes are generally either full suspension with 140mm to 160mm of travel, or hardtails, and typically have relatively strong frames. They run a chainguide on front and gears on the back. They have slack head angles, short chainstays and low bottom brackets for good cornering and acceleration. In recent years the tracks raced on have been rougher and less like those used in BMX.
Bryn Atkinson is an Australian professional mountain bike racing cyclist from Townsville, QLD. He started mountain biking in 1996 and became a professional in 2002. Bryn's first introduction to the sport was through his local mountain bike club in Townsville- The Townsville Rockwheelers. Competing in several cross country type events, Bryn evolved with the sport and later found downhill. As a teenager, he moved north to Cairns, a popular location for downhill mountain biking, and host of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1996. Glen Jacobs was the course builder for that event and several other events on the World Cup, and mentored Bryn and several other downhillers in the area.
Sam Hill, is an Australian professional enduro mountain biker and former professional downhill racer. He was two time consecutive UCI World Downhill Champion during years 2006–2007 for Iron Horse racing team. He won the 2010 world championships in Mont Saint Anne, riding for the Monster Energy Specialized team on a Specialized Demo 8 II. He also won the 2007 and 2009 UCI Elite Men's Downhill World Cup (Overall). In December 2012 it was announced that Hill had signed for the Chain Reaction Cycles/Nukeproof team. As of 2016, Hill has switched to racing enduro and won the 2017 Enduro World Series overall title. In the same year he raced the Downhill World Championships in Cairns, Australia on his enduro bike where he finished sixth.
George David Atherton, known as Gee Atherton is a professional racing cyclist specializing in downhill and four cross mountain bike racing, and is a multiple national champion, multiple World Cup winner, and 2008 & 2014 Downhill World Champion. He is also a rally driver and competed in his first International event in 2017 at Wales Rally GB.
Rachel Laura Atherton is a British professional downhill mountain bike racer, and is a multiple time UCI World Champion.
Tracy Marie Moseley is a British professional racing cyclist who was born in Worcester, specialising in downhill mountain bike racing. Moseley's brother, Ed, was also a mountain biker, it was after he began riding cross country mountain bike races that a race was held on their farm in 1992; this was Tracy's first competition. Her first foray into downhilling came in 1994. Moseley's first international race was the World Championships in 1995 where she finished 8th. The following year she was funded by the Jason McRoy fund, to ride a French National event at Les Menuires. Moseley continued to race with increasing success, and despite sitting her exams late due to her racing schedule, graduated with a 2:1 degree in Biological Sciences in 2000.
Jared Graves is an Australian cyclist who has represented Australia in BMX, four-cross (4X), and downhill mountain biking. In 2006, he finished second in the mountain bike 4x world cup series. In 2008 he finished second in the BMX world cup series and was selected to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he finished sixth.
Aaron Holmes Gwin is an American professional downhill mountain biker from Morongo Valley, California. He is a five-time World Cup overall champion.
Joshua Antonio Torres Bryceland, known as Josh Bryceland, and commonly referred to by his nickname, Ratboy, born 23 March 1990, in Manchester is a professional downhill mountain biker, who lives in Higher Poynton, Cheshire, England.
The Santa Cruz Syndicate, is a professional mountain bike racing team sponsored by Santa Cruz Bicycles, competing in the World Cup and World Championships, as well as national level events, in the downhill category. The Syndicate was founded in 2006.
Atherton Racing, competing officially as Trek Factory Racing, formerly as GT Factory Racing, is a professional mountain bike racing team competing in the World Cup and World Champs, as well as national level events, in the downhill category. The team began as Animal Commençal.
Danny Hart is a British downhill mountain biker who currently rides for Cube Factory Racing. He won the 2011 and 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
Manon Rose Carpenter is a Welsh, professional racing cyclist formerly specialising in downhill mountain bike racing.
Hugo Donais is a Canadian retired cyclist who specialized in downhill mountain biking, four-cross and BMX.
Tracey Hannah is a Professional Downhill bike rider. She raced her first national BMX title when she was 4 years old. Tracey chose to do MTB when she saw Mick Hannah was racing down a hill very fast on an MTB camp in 1997.
GBR 4X National Champion (1 Wins)
