Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
Sport
Roger Vaughan and Justin Chadwick

Australians win first two Paralympic golds

Australian track cyclist Paige Greco has claimed the first gold medal of the Paralympic Games. (AAP)

Australia has made the perfect start to the Tokyo Paralympics, winning the first two gold medals of the Games.

Track cyclist Paige Greco broke her own world record in the C3 3000m individual pursuit at the Izu Velodrome and a few minutes later, teammate Emily Petricola lapped American rival Shawn Morelli to take out the C4 3000m pursuit.

Compatriot Meg Lemon lost her C4 pursuit bronze medal ride-off to Canadian Shawn Keely.

Greco, 24, easily beat China's Wang Xiaomei in their gold medal ride-off on Wednesday.

The Adelaide cyclist, who has cerebral palsy, clocked three minutes 50.815 seconds and Wang rode 3:54.975.

Greco also broke her own world record earlier on Wednesday when she qualified fastest in 3:52.283.

Petricola made a shaky start against Morelli and looked in trouble when she was .951 of a second down after the first lap.

But the 41-year-old from Queensland, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 14 years ago, then dominated their ride-off and caught Morelli well inside the last kilometre.

Petricola also broke her own world record when she qualified fastest in 3:38.061.

Lemon trailled early against Keely and could not pull back the deficit, losing by more than a second.

All three Australians are making their Paralympic debuts while Greco and Petricola came into the Games as defending world champions in their individual pursuit categories.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.