Neil Fachie wins seventh Commonwealth gold in tandem sprint

Neil Fachie cemented his legacy as Scotland’s most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete, capping a storied career with a dramatic seventh gold medal in the men’s tandem B sprint final on Saturday, August 1, 2026. The 42-year-old visually impaired cyclist, alongside his pilot Aaron Pope, overcame a mid-race crash and a restart to defeat the Welsh duo of James Ball and Matt Rotherham by a razor-thin margin of 0.077 seconds at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.

The decisive third race in the best-of-three final was marred by a collision after the Welsh bike clipped the Scots’ rear wheel while accelerating. Both teams hit the deck, leading to a rerun after officials deemed Wales at fault. Following a ten-minute delay, Fachie and Pope returned to the track to secure the victory in a time of 10.530 seconds, sending the home crowd into raptures. The triumph added to the gold Fachie had already won earlier in the week in the men’s tandem 1,000-meter time trial, which had moved him one clear of bowler Alex Marshall for the record of most Commonwealth golds by a Scottish athlete.

Fachie had come out of retirement for these home Games after initially stepping away following the 2024...