Neil Fachie admits his longevity has surprised him as he sets his sights on winning a third Paralympic title in 2024.
The Aberdonian track cyclist, who has the sight condition retinitis pigmentosa, is aiming to again enjoy success on his sport’s biggest stage at the Paris games in August.
Fachie first competed at the Paralympics in 2008 in Beijing as a sprinter in athletics.
But a switch to cycling saw him land gold in London four years later in the tandem B1 kilometre time-trial.
After silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 he regained the Paralympic crown at the Covid-delayed Tokyo games in 2021.
The desire to compete still burns brightly for Fachie – who will celebrate his 40th birthday in March.
He said: “I haven’t had any thoughts beyond competing, if I’m still winning I don’t feel I want to walk away.
“If the Commonwealth Games were to happen again and I’d love to do another one.
28-08-21
2 Fachies, 2 world records, 2 Paralympic golds 🥇 🥇 pic.twitter.com/4kAa153KAD
— Neil Fachie OBE (@neilfachie) August 28, 2023
“I’ll see how I feel about things further down the line, but I’m not stupid. I know I haven’t got too many more years left, although I’ve been saying that for the last 10 years.
“I have surprised myself, I never envisaged I would still be going at this stage.
“When I won in London I didn’t think I’d be trying to go to the Paralympics 12 years later.
“Careers do last longer than they used to which is good and I don’t feel I’m at the point where I need to walk away which I suppose is a nice surprise.
“It’s hard to predict how long I’ll go on for.”
The path to Paris
If Fachie is to make it to Paris he faces some key tests in the early part of the new year.
In February the British Championships will be held in Manchester with the World Championships in Rio following in March.
Fachie and pilot Matt Rotherham are the reigning world champions after success in Glasgow in August, but will require another strong showing in Brazil to ensure qualification for the Paralympics.
Fachie added: “There are not many races over the course of the year and after February and March we’ll have a good idea of where we are.
“Your year could be done and dusted after the World Championship. If you don’t perform you won’t go to Paris.
“We’ll know roughly how many places we have in the squad after that and how likely we are to be selected.
“But if you don’t perform there you’re not going to Paris so you need to try to peak for the World Championship.
“I haven’t defended a Paralympic title so that’s a motivation for me.
“But there’s always the buzz of competing on the big stage in front of a full velodrome which we had at the World Championship in Glasgow this year and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.
“When you get a big crowd to race in front of I thrive on those occasions and I’m sure Paris will be packed, it’s a good velodrome and that excites me.
“I don’t know how many more chances I’ll get to race in front of big crowds so I’d hate to miss the opportunity.”
Exploring other options
Although he has no retirement plans Fachie he has been expanding his horizons beyond cycling as an inspirational and educational speaker.
He said: “I’ve been going into businesses and doing some speaking based on the things I’ve learned in sport and the stories I’ve got.
“I try to pass them on to people in the business world to see if my insights could help them.
“I get a lot of enjoyment from it, there’s a performance element to it and you get a bit of a buzz from it.
“I could do that to some level so whether I’d go into that or something in the sporting world I don’t know, but it’s good to keep your options open.
“I’ve been trying to do more of it than I did in the past.”
