Caerphilly rider Manon Carpenter came second in the UCI World Championships downhill on Sunday September 6, failing to retain her title.
Carpenter lost out to fellow Brit Rachel Atherton in Andorra after Atherton also took her UCI World Cup Series title off her.
The 22-year-old went into the championships in confident mood after a late season resurgence saw her secure second place in the world cup.
But she could not find the form that made her double world champion in 2014 and finished 3.238 seconds behind Atherton.
Speaking to the BBC, Carpenter seemed happy with finishing the season off as runner-up.
She said: “It was going to be hard to beat last year, but coming second I can’t really complain about that.
“I’m feeling good now, I’ve spent the whole year trying to get back to where I wanted to be on my bike and now I kind of feel comfortable.
“Looking at the times I was a little bit gutted, I lost all my time at the top third of the track and then was on pace for the rest of it.
“You come to world championships to go for gold, but yeah I’ll settle for second.”