Matt's Profile

With a Paralympic gold medal already under his belt, tandem pilot Matt Rotherham is set to appear at this summer’s Paris Games alongside Neil Fachie, targeting yet more success as one of the sport’s most winning partnerships.

A European champion in his own right as a junior, and a senior national medallist across the sprint events, Rotherham also displayed tandem pedigree before joining the para-cycling programme, having won the national tandem title in 2011 and 2015.Rotherham was also a popular figure in the Revolution and Six Day track series across Europe as an individual rider.

In 2017, Rotherham began his journey as a pilot on the Great Britain para-cycling programme. As a pilot for James Ball, the pair took that year’s UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships by storm, winning the 1km time-trial and sprint titles after riding together for just seven weeks.

Partnered with Neil Fachie for the 2018 season, the success continued as the pair won the 1km time-trial and sprint golds at the world championships, and repeated the feat at the Commonwealth Games, where they represented Fachie’s native Scotland.

They added another world sprint title to their collection in 2019 in Apeldoorn, narrowly edging out their home rivals, Ball and his new pilot Pete Mitchell. Their teammates managed to gain revenge in the time-trial, although Rotherham and Fachie had the consolation of adding a silver medal to their tally.

At the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, the thrilling rivalry within the Great Britain squad continued in Milton, Canada. This time, it was the 1km time-trial in which Rotherham and Fachie took gold, being left with the silver after losing to Ball and his new pilot Lewis Stewart in the sprint.

During the course of their partnership, they have continually improved upon  world records, and they entered the original Paralympic year of 2020 holding the fastest times in history for the tandem 1km time-trialand tandem flying 200m.

While the interruption of the Covid-19 pandemic could have stalled their progress, Fachie and Rotherham were in excellent form by the time the delayed Paralympic Games in Tokyo arrived. Rotherham piloted Fachie to the second Paralympic title of his career, and was was recognised in the New Year Honours list in 2022 with an MBE for his services to para-cycling.

Later that year, Fachie and Ball swapped pilots for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, with Rotherham partnering with Ball to ride for Wales. The honours were even across the two events, with Wales losing out to the Scots in the 1km time-trial, but claiming gold ahead of Fachie and Lewis Stewart in the sprint event.

At the world championships in Paris that year, Rotherham piloted Fachie to two further world titles in the 1km time-trial and sprint. A year later at the home world championships in Glasgow, the pair retained their titles in both events and also added a mixed team sprint gold to their palmares, alongside Lizzie Jordan and Amy Cole.

So far in 2024, the pair have already had success with Rotherham piloting Fachie to his 20th world title at the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. The duo took two golds once again in the 1km time-trial and sprint, adding a silver in the mixed team sprint alongside Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall.

The duo are targeting a defence of the title they won in Tokyo this summer in Paris, to add yet more honours to the list in what has already been an extremely fruitful partnership.

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