Rachel Atherton won the Windham leg of the downhill World Cup for the second successive year after recording the fastest splits from start to finish in the United States.

The Brit, who won at the New York venue in last year’s World Cup finale, clocked 2:50.029 minutes, averaging 57.3 km/h, to top the podium by more than a second.

France’s Floriane Pugin, the fastest qualifier, finished second while Atherton’s compatriot Tracy Moseley came third.

“I love this track,” said Atherton. “It’s short, which suits me. It was really dry so I knew I had to go fast throughout. I’m really stoked to be number one here.”

Moseley continues to lead the overall World Cup standings on 1080 points, while Pugin is 100 back in second and third-placed Atherton is a further 160 adrift with two races remaining.

Meanwhile, Aaron Gwin claimed his fourth World Cup win of the year on home soil to further extend his lead at the top of the table.

Veteran Steve Peat finished second, more than two seconds back, while Andrew Neethling completed the podium.

Gwin now leads the overall standings by more than 300 points, with his two mains rivals, Greg Minnaar and Gee Atherton, only 11th and 12th in Windham respectively.