Neil's Profile

Heading to his fifth Paralympic Games this summer, para-track cyclist Neil Fachie is already one of the most decorated riders in the Great Britain Cycling Team.

Born in Aberdeen with a congenital eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa, Fachie took up athletics at the age of 24 after completing a degree in Physics. The Scotsman ran for Great Britain in the 100m and 200m sprints at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics before deciding to make the switch to track cycling.

Fachie joining the Great Britain Cycling Team in April 2009 with a focus on the tandem events. His promise was immediately apparent when he won two world cup silver medals in the sprint and 1km time-trial with pilot Dave Readle at his first international competition. Later that year in Manchester, Fachie took his first world titles, winning the two sprint events alongside pilot Barney Storey and setting a new world record of 1:02.217 in the process.

A different pilot, former Olympian Craig MacLean, brought the same results at Fachie’s next world championships in Montichiari, Italy, two years later, with the pair breaking the world record in the sprint.

By the Paralympic year of 2012, Fachie was clearly in medal contention for his two events in London and, partnered with Storey once more, warmed up with a world silver in the 1km time-trial.

In London at the Paralympic Games, Fachie duly delivered, setting a world record of 1:01.351 in the 1km time-trial and winning the gold medal. The pair went on to claim a silver in the sprint to cap off a successful home Games.

The honours rolled in off the bike too, with Fachie made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for his services to para-cycling. His local University of Aberdeen followed suit, awarding him an honorary degree.

The 2014 season saw Fachie paired with a new pilot, Pete Mitchell, claiming more success, gold medals and world records. The pair stunned the cycling world at the 2014 world championships in Mexico when they became the first tandem to break the magical minute barrier in the 1km time-trial, clocking 59.640on the way to the gold medal. There was a second gold for Fachie in the sprint, breaking another world record in the flying 200-metre qualifying with a time of 9.711 seconds.

In the Glasgow Commonwealth Games that summer, the Scotsman was reunited with MacLean and the duo delighted the home crowds by winning the 1km time-trial and sprint golds. The pairing with Mitchell continued to be successful and the 2015 world championships in Apeldoorn saw them win double gold, a feat they repeated a year later in Montichiari.

Fachie arrived at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games concentrating on the 1km time-trial event. Despite an excellent effort with his partner Mitchell, Fachie narrowly missed out on gold by less than half a second to the Dutch, adding Paralympic silver to his impressive collection.

In 2017, Fachie teamed up with MacLean once again for the world championships in Los Angeles, winning two silvers.  The 2018 season saw Fachie line up alongside a new partner once more as he teamed up with pilot Matt Rotherham. The move paid dividends, with the duo winning two world titles at the world championships in Rio in both the 1km time-trial and the sprint.

From Rio to the Gold Coast in Australia, the new partnership provided more success as the duo won two gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games for Scotland, and broke another world record in the flying 200m qualifying.

In 2019, Fachie and Rotherham won another world title in the sprint and took home silver in the 1km time-trial, before claiming two golds the following year in Milton, Canada.

Fachie arrived well prepared for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and with  Rotherham piloting, he won gold in the 1km time-trial, going one better than his performance in Rio. He was recognised once again in the New Year Honours list with an OBE.

Piloted by Lewis Stewart at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Fachie took two medals for Scotland with a gold in the 1km time-trial and silver in the sprint.

At the world championships in Paris that year, Fachie added two more world titles to his ever-expanding collecting, winning gold in both the 1km time-trial and sprint with Rotherham.

The following year was a special one, with a home world championships in his native Scotland, and Fachie made no mistake on home soil, claiming his 17^th and 18^th world titles at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow, and adding another gold in the mixed team sprint with Lizzi Jordan and Amy Cole.

So far in 2024, Fachie has already made his mark, notching up his 20^th world title on the track in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There, he once again defended both of his titles, also taking a silver medal in the mixed team sprint in a team that included his wife Lora and her pilot Corrine Hall.

Fachie will be aiming to defend his title in Paris this summer, and to add to the haul of two gold and two silver medals that he has collected so far in his Paralympic career.

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