[2] Atkinson won a gold medal in the Scratch Race C4 in the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, beating Benjamin Westenberg of New Zealand.

He dedicated his win to fellow track cyclist Magnus White, who had died in a training accident the previous month.

[7] In March 2024, Atkinson won a gold medal at the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in the Individual Pursuit.

He set a world record in the qualifying round of the men's pursuit C4, advancing through to face Jozef Metelka in the final.

In the race, he gained an advantage of six seconds over Metelka, however crashed on the penultimate lap, leading to him taking the silver medal.