Neil's Profile

Biography

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

Initial steps into the velodrome with the Great Britain Para-cycling Team soon led to Fachie joining the squad in April 2009 to focus on the tandem events. His promise was immediately apparent when he won two silver medals in sprint and kilo with pilot Dave Readle at his first international competition, the UCI Para-cycling World Cup in Manchester.

By the 2009 Para-cycling Track World Championships in Manchester, Fachie was in the form to take the first of his 14 gold medals, winning the sprint and the kilo alongside pilot Barney Storey, with the pair setting a new world record of 1:02.217 in the process.

A different pilot - this time the former Olympian Craig MacLean - brought the same results at Fachie’s next Para-cycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy, two years later with the pair breaking the world record in the sprint.

By the Olympic year of 2012, Fachie was clearly in medal contention for his two events at the London Paralympics and, partnered with Storey once more, warmed up with a silver medal in the kilo at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles.

In London at the Paralympic, Fachie duly delivered, with Storey again his pilot, setting a world record of 1:01.351 in the kilo, and taking the gold medal after team-mates and favourites Anthony Kappes and Craig MacLean suffered a mechanical failure.

Kappes and MacLean gained revenge in the sprint competition but Fachie was still able to cap a successful home Games by adding a silver medal to his growing collection.

Breaking the minute barrier

The honours poured in off the bike, as well, 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 by awarding him an honorary degree.

The 2014 season saw Fachie paired with a new pilot in Mitchell but the result was the same - more success, gold medals and world records. At the 2014 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, the pair stunned the cycling world when they became the first tandem to break the magical minute barrier in the kilo, their time of 59.640, breaking Fachie’s own world record on the way to the gold medal.

There was a second gold for Fachie, in the sprint at those World Championships and another world record, in the flying 200-metre qualifying with a time of 9.711 seconds, on the way to beating Australia 2-0 in the gold medal final.

Fachie was just as successful on home turf, in that summer’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where the Scotsman was re-united with MacLean and the duo delighted the home crowds by winning the kilo and sprint golds. The pairing with Mitchell continued to be successful and the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships of 2015, in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, saw them win double gold, a feat they repeated a year later in Montichiari.

Fachie, whose off-bike achievements include a physics degree from the University of Aberdeen, arrived at Rio 2016 concentrating on the tandem time trial event, the sprint competition having been removed from the Paralympic programme.

Despite an excellent effort with his partner Mitchell, Fachie narrowly missed out on gold by less than half a second to Dutch rider Tristan Bangma, adding Paralympic silver to his impressive collection.

In 2017, Fachie teamed up with Maclean once again for the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles. The pair won two silver medals, in the kilo and the sprint. 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 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro - claiming gold in both the 1km time trial and the sprint.

From Rio to the Gold Coast in Australia and the new partnership provided more success as the duo - lining up for Scotland - won two gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. They won time trial gold on the opening day of competition, setting a new Games record of 1:00.065 to beat Wales' James Ball and Mitchell before claiming sprint gold against the same pair - this time setting a new world record in qualification of 9.568 in the flying 200m to break Fachie's previous mark.

In 2019, the pair had to share the spoils with their team-mates at the World Championships, as Fachie and Rotherham won the sprint but lost out to Ball and Mitchell in the kilo although the year did start with the duo setting a new world record for the tandem kilo, clocking an amazing 59.278 seconds at the National Track Championships in Manchester.

And, as they warmed up for the original Tokyo Olympics year, at the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Milton, Canada, the thrilling rivalry within the GB squad continued. This time, it was the kilo time trial in which Rotherham and Fachie took gold, being left with the silver after losing to Ball and his new pilot Lewis Stewart in the sprint.

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