Neil Fachie ended his international career with a seventh Commonwealth Games gold medal, getting back up off the boards after a crash in the deciding race of the tandem sprint at Glasgow 2026.
The 42-year-old and pilot Aaron Pope had already made history on Thursday by clinching a record sixth gold, becoming Scotland's most successful Commonwealth Games athlete. Saturday had been announced as his final ride.
Crash and second chance
Fachie and Pope crashed in the deciding race of their tandem sprint battle with Wales' James Ball and Matthew Rotherham. It looked as if Fachie would be saying goodbye on two legs rather than two wheels, but the pair were given another go, much to the frustration of the Welsh pair.
With holes in their skinsuits and fire in their bellies, they took their second chance to clinch victory, roared on by the loudest noise the crowd at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome has produced this week. The Aberdonian paraded around triumphantly, soaking it in for one last time.
"This is it," he said. "I wanted to wave goodbye to the crowd. I don't know if they all knew it was my last race, but we've got a podium photo and I'll save that for a while. Maybe get it framed and put it on my desk at work on Tuesday morning. Two gold medals was way beyond my imagination but there was a little fire in me that thought hearing Flower of Scotland one more time in the velodrome would be incredible."
An unorthodox path to the podium
Fachie had all but retired after Paris 2024, getting a job at Amazon and focusing on spending time with son Fraser. The lure of a home Commonwealth Games dragged him back for one last dance, but it was not enough to abandon the new life he had built. He trained in the velodrome just once a week with Pope and admitted his plan to train at home often fell by the wayside amid the day-to-day stresses of a full-time job and raising a toddler.
He added: "We probably shouldn't have been winning these races, but somehow something just clicked. It's a great way to finish."
'Poked the bear'
If Fachie was feeling the effects of gruelling qualification rounds, the crash gave him extra fire. He said: "I don't really know what happened, but you're so fired up and you feel pretty aggrieved about it. The last thing you want is to be sliding along the track. It's a track that I love, but I didn't want to get to know it quite this well."
He credited the team for helping them up, cleaning them up and making sure they were okay to ride. "I said to a few people afterwards it's almost like they poked the bear and we were ready," he said. "It might only be a little bear, but it's quite an angry one. I was definitely an angry bear. I said to Aaron before we went out, 'The story's already written. Let's go and finish it.'"
They finished it in style, comfortably winning the third race and leaving Fachie to define his own legacy as he walks off into the sporting sunset. His seventh gold ensures he cannot be caught as Scotland's most successful Commonwealth athlete for these Games at least.
Legacy and visibility
Fachie is proud to put para cycling in the spotlight. "It does mean a lot," he reflected. "I've always said it would be great to move to the top of the all-time list. Every Commonwealth Games is a chance to bring visibility to tandem racing and show people how exciting it can be. I don't think anybody who watched today's race is going to forget it. It was exciting from start to finish."
He added: "If achievements like this can help raise the profile of the sport and encourage more people to get involved, then that's brilliant. The sport will be in good hands with athletes like Aaron and the pilots who'll come after us."
Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £33m is raised every week for good causes, supporting sport, arts, heritage and community projects, as well as athletes competing at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
