Aberdeen parasport legend Neil Fachie battled illness to claim a record-equalling fifth Commonwealth Games gold.
Fachie had been struggling with a cold right up to competition time on Friday and had lost his voice by the time it came to the tandem B 1km time trial.
However, he and pilot Lewis Stewart pulled something dramatic out of the bag, digging deep to break the Games record which had been set just minutes before by Wales duo James Ball and Matt Rotherham – Fachie’s former pilot – winning in 59.938.
The medal puts Fachie level with Team Scotland bowler Alex Marshall at the top of the Scotland Commonwealth Games all-time list, with both men due to compete again before the Games is over.
“It’s genuinely mind-blowing,” said Fachie. “As you can hear, it’s been a tough day. I’ve lost my voice and I’ve been quite ill all week.
“I’ve had a cold. We were worried it might be Covid, but thank God it wasn’t, because that would have been a disaster.
“I’ve been struggling with my lungs, but it’s all about your legs at the end of the day.
“Lewis was an absolute hero. We left it all on the track.
“We train with the Welsh boys every day, we knew how good they’d be. When I saw the time I thought: ‘we can beat this’. It’s because of them we’re as good as we are as we push each other all the time.
“I was aware of the (medal) record. It was a bit of motivation, just to put para-sport on the map.
“I wish Alex all the best – I hope he wins two or three and, if he beats it, it’s great for Scotland.”
“We were so tired,” added Stewart. “It’s one of those you want to leave everything on the track and we were both going so deep at the end.
“You can hear when it’s tight with the crowd.
“We had it stacked against us in terms of preparation, but I’m super happy with the ride and I’m proud for both of us.”
Aviemore rider Ellie Stone picked up a silver medal on her Commonwealth Games debut in the tandem B sprint.
Piloting Scottish paralympic favourite Aileen McGlynn, Stone took second in the final against a strong Australian pair of Caitlin Ward and Jessica Gallagher.
“It’s amazing. I find with sprinting, you have to lose twice to get the silver,” said Stone. “At first, I was like: ‘damn it’, but then it hit me that I’d got silver. We were so close.
“As the times get better and we were knocking on the door, I was forgetting how long we’d been together. I knew we could win, but I can’t be disappointed.
“There’s lots to take in. It’s my first international Games so I’m trying to take in as much as possible to take into my next one.
Stone and McGlynn were second-fastest in qualifying and were pitted against English duo Sophie Unwin and Georgia Holt in the semi-finals.
The first two races were split evenly with England winning the third, however, they were relegated due to a deviation and the Stone-McGlynn pairing were promoted to the final.
“My legs were dead and my coach came over and told me they’d been relegated,” said Stone. “I felt a bit bad at first, but they did impede us a little bit.”
Meanwhile, Forres’ Lauren Bell, teaming up with Iona Moir and Lusia Steele, posted a time of 48.650 in qualifying for the women’s team sprint. Unfortunately, it was not among the four-fastest times to qualify for the medal races.
“We’ve not been together as a team for long,” said Bell. “Iona has been doing her A-level exams so we’ve not been racing together for long.
“Overall we should be pleased with it. The stuff we wanted to do we did it well.”
A strong time set by Lauren, Lusia and Iona of 48.650 in the Team Sprint which sees the Scotland squad finish in 6th place.
A very respectable ride by the three debutants but they just miss out on the medal rides this evening.
We’ll see all three in Sprint tomorrow.#B2022 pic.twitter.com/CfMgzWIW6z
— Scottish Cycling (@ScottishCycling) July 29, 2022
“Sometimes the morning sessions aren’t as busy as the afternoon, but it was so loud. When they announced ‘Team Scotland’ everyone was proper cheering. It was a magical moment. My parents and friends were watching, too, which was nice.
“We couldn’t go to the opening ceremony, but we all put on our kilts and watched it on TV. It feels like we’re with the rest of the team, even though we’re not.”
Bell is back on the track on Saturday in the women’s individual sprint and is confident she can build on Friday’s performance.
“Especially from my lap I did, which was a PB for me, it shows the speed is there,” she added. “I’m just so excited. If you get a happy head, you get happy legs, so I can’t wait.”
