Neil Fachie has confirmed he is walking away from elite sport for good — and this time he means it.

The 42-year-old Scottish Para-cyclist, who came out of retirement to compete at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, announced the decision in a Facebook post describing his Glasgow experience as "a magical couple of weeks" (BBC Sport).

Fachie had essentially retired once already. After the Paris 2024 Paralympics, he stepped away from cycling and walked off the track. Glasgow lured him back for one final campaign on home soil — and what a farewell it turned out to be.

Riding with pilot Aaron Pope on a tandem bicycle (the two-seater machines used by visually impaired riders, with a sighted pilot steering at the front), Fachie won two gold medals: the men's tandem B 1,000m time trial and the men's tandem B sprint. The time trial victory delivered Scotland's first gold of the Games and came with a new Commonwealth record (TNT Sports via Facebook).

The sprint gold was the harder-earned. Fachie survived a painful crash on his way to that second title (BBC Sport), making the final ride of his career one he will not forget in a hurry. Scottish Cycling described the performance as bringing "the curtain down on a glittering career" (Scottish Cycling via Facebook).

Together, the Glasgow victories brought Fachie and Pope's total Commonwealth Games titles to seven, cementing Fachie's status as Scotland's most successful Commonwealth Games athlete.

For all the medals, Fachie said he does not leave the sport with a heavy heart. At 42, finding the drive to push himself had simply become too great a hurdle. The honesty is striking — no teary farewell, no claim of unfinished business, just a man who knows when the tank is empty.

His wife, Lora Fachie OBE — a decorated Para-cyclist in her own right — announced on her X account that her own competitive journey has also come to an end. Two careers, one household, both stepping away together.

Fachie's story spans the arc of British Para-cycling's growth into a properly funded, elite programme: from chasing medals on borrowed equipment to packing Commonwealth records into a home Games farewell. The Glasgow crowd, who roared him around the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, got the ending they wanted. He got the one he needed.