Australian cyclist Paige Greco has won the first gold medal of the Tokyo Paralympics.
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Greco won the women's C1-3 3000m individual pursuit in what has been a terrific first day's cycling.
The 24-year-old from Adelaide easily beat China's Wang Xiaomei in their gold medal ride-off on Wednesday at the Izu Velodrome.
Greco clocked three minutes 50.815 seconds and Wang rode 3:54.975.
Emily Petricola cycled her way to gold not long later, running down American Morelli in the C4 3000m individual pursuit.
Meg Lemon just missed out on a medal in the broinze ride of the C4 3000m individual pursuit. She finished fourth overall.
Meanwhile 13 Australians in seven swimming finals tonight. But before the action in the pool, the Steelers are playing their first wheelchair rugby match.
They are facing Denmark in their first match of a campaign that aims to culminate in a third Paralympic gold medal.
Day one is expected to be a medal bonanza for the strong Australian swimming team.
Unlike the Olympics, they will follow their traditional competition format of heats in the morning and evening finals.
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Six-time gold medallist Ellie Cole will go up against compatriot and Rio gold medallist Lakeisha Patterson in the 400m freestyle, and fellow star Brenden Hall will also defend his Paralympic 400m freestyle title.
Team co-captains Danni di Toro and Ryley Batt will be in action the day after carrying the flag at the opening ceremony.
Batt is a member of the Steelers, who will open their wheelchair rugby campaign on Wednesday against Denmark as they aim for a third-straight gold medal while Di Toro will be among several Australians competing in table tennis.
The Izu Velodrome may have been a barren Olympic venue for Australia, it could be the site of the Paralympic team's first gold medal in Tokyo.
Who's in action when
Paige Greco holds the world record for the 3000m individual pursuit in the C3 category and the C1-3 event will be the first medals decided on Wednesday afternoon at the Paralympics.
Fellow Australian Emily Petricola also holds the world record in the C4 3000m pursuit and her medal ride-offs will follow Greco's.
The cycling team is based at Izu, about 150km outside Tokyo, and they had their own ceremony on Tuesday afternoon to mark the start of the Games.
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They used the occasion to remember five-time Paralympic cycling gold medallist Kieran Modra, who was killed in a training ride accident north of Adelaide two years ago.
A presentation was made to long-time Olympic and Paralympic team mechanic Michael Winter, who was a good friend of Modra's.
The cycling team is expected to flourish again at the Paralympics, with Amanda Reid a chance to break her world record on Friday in the 500m time trial.
"Our cycling team are just amazing. There's some incredibly exciting athletes in that team, many world champions and world record holders," said Australian team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin.
Australian Associated Press
