Glasgow 2014: Fachie & Maclean land cycling gold for Scotland
- Published
Neil Fachie and his pilot Craig Maclean won Scotland's first Commonwealth Games cycling gold with victory in the Para-cycling 1000m tandem time trial for blind and visually impaired athletes.
The pair clocked one minute 2.096 seconds, beating Australia's Kieran Modra and Jason Niblett by 0.148secs.
Wales's Matt Ellis and Ieuan Williams won bronze.
"It was a special day and we dug hard," said Fachie, who is now Paralympic, World and Commonwealth champion.
"We knew we had a chance out there but you never know what will happen but it all came together," added the 30-year-old former sprinter, who switched to cycling in 2009.
Neil Fachie facts |
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Born with a degenerative eye-condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. |
Studied physics at Aberdeen University |
Started his sporting career as a sprinter and represented GB over 100 and 200m at Beijing 2008 |
Switched to cycling in late 2008 and made GB debut the following year |
Has won six World Championship medals |
"I've been lucky to be on top of the podium a few times but this is the first time I've raced for Scotland it was hard not to get teary-eyed when we got our medals.
Fachie and Maclean had won the kilo and sprint events at the 2011 World Championships in Italy, external but Fachie was piloted by Barney Storey at London 2012 and by another English rider, Pete Mitchell, at April's World Championship.
But the racing experience of Maclean, 42, who won Olympic team sprint silver in 2000 along with Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Queally and team sprint Commonwealth gold in Melbourne in 2006, proved key to the pairing.
"We both rode out of our skins today," said Maclean.
"I knew we would be up after the first half of the race but we crossed the line so slowly. But I feel like the medal justifies the hard work we have put in."
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