Canberra cyclist Michael Milton secured a top-10 finish and a personal best in the 1km time trial and teammates Chris Scott and Kieran Modra won Australia's first gold medals at the Beijing Paralympic Games yesterday.
Six-time winter Paralympic champion Milton recorded a new best mark in the combined classification event, finishing in ninth place with a ride of 1min21.578sec.
Milton, 35, underwent extensive surgery less than 12 months ago after being diagnosed with cancer for a second time.
''It's about a 1.5-second PB so in general I'm pretty happy with the ride the conditions are good,'' Milton said after the race.
''For me it's not really about this event, it's more about the signals that I get from this event for the [3000m] pursuit on Tuesday.''
Fellow cyclist Greg Ball, who won two gold medals in Athens four years ago, won bronze in the 1km time trial yesterday and broke the world record in his L4 category, with an adjusted time for his classification of 1:17.86.
Scott and Modra blitzed the field at Beijing's cycling track to secure Australia's first two gold medals of the Games.
Modra, and pilot Tyson Lawrence, contesting the 4000m pursuit, made light work of their Spanish rivals in the gold medal ride-off to record Australia's second victory of the day, after Scott's epic eighth gold medal in the 3000m event.
Scott, a four-time Paralympian, crossed the line barely 0.1sec ahead of Japan's Masashi Ishii for the win, in a time of 3:40.144.
But the cycling legend, who has cerebral palsy, said the victory was particularly sweet, given that Beijing would be his last Games.
''It's amazing. I told everyone that this was definitely my last individual pursuit, and they all said, 'Well, you better make it a gold.'
''I'm the first gold medallist for Australia and that makes it even more special.''
Scott, 40, has done this all before, winning his first two golds at the Atlanta Games in 1996, another golden pair at Sydney and three more at Athens four years ago.
But after a tumultuous past year in which he was hit by a car, had back surgery and got married, this gold had particular significance. He paid tribute to his loved ones, who helped him reach his goal of a fourth Games.
Scott said, ''After what I've been through ... I've seen my bike more than I have seen [my wife].
''But defending my title meant a lot to me, to go back to back.''
Modra and his partner Lawrence managed a world record in their event, finishing in 4:18.166, well ahead of Spaniards Christian Venge and David Llaurado, who were lapped at the three-quarter mark.
Another Australian pair, Bryce Lindores and pilot Steven George, picked up the bronze.
It was a highly successful day for the Australians, with an overall tally of two golds, a silver and three bronze medals at the Laoshan Velodrome.
Felicity Johnson and pilot Katie Parker recorded a personal best time in the 1km time trial and won silver, just ahead of compatriots and pre-race favourites Lindy Hou and her pilot Toireasa Gallagher, who took bronze. AAP
2008 PARALYMPICS
Day two highlights on ABC from 6.30-7.30pm and from 11.35pm-12.35am.
Email a friend