Anyone who has ridden a tandem will know communication is key and for Paralympic and world champions Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall, they’ve got that firmly mastered.
So much so that they finish each other’s sentences when talking about their selection for their second Paralympic Games as a pair.
Liverpool-born Fachie will compete in Tokyo with Hall, who acts as her pilot as Fachie is visually impaired, to defend the individual pursuit title they won in the velodrome at Rio.
Fachie was delighted at being selected and the 32-year-old said: “It's pretty exciting, to be honest, it's been a long wait. But I think we're both...”
Mitcham-born Hall jumps in to pick up where she left off: “We're both really excited. Obviously, as it has been for everyone, it's been a very long wait, but for it to finally be announced that we are on the team, and it is literally just around the corner we are just looking forward to getting stuck into racing.”
Hall and Fachie are two of over 1,000 athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme which allows them to train full-time, access the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support.
After over a year without competition, the pair surged to the world time trial title in Cascais in June, as they look to better the bronze they won in the event at Rio.
Fachie, who is married to fellow para-cyclist Neil Fachie, explained how this successful partnership came together accidentally, adding: “We started riding together on a training camp in Mallorca in March 2013 and it was a bit by chance.
“Corrine had come out to ride with Aileen McGlynn and the day she arrived, the squad were planning a big group ride for four hours the next day.
“I was like, that's a bit of a baptism of fire, you can't just throw someone who's never been on a tandem into that!
“So I offered to jump on a tandem with her for an hour the day before just to show her the ropes a bit, give her the chance to learn how to start and stop it.”
The Merseyside star added: “We got on well together on the bike and Corrine seemed to really enjoy it and after that, our coach saw the potential.”
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