Emily Petricola has struggled to get on her bike for the past eight weeks, but it didn't stop her defending her Paralympic title.
Hitting the velodrome strong overnight, the 44-year-old set the C4 3000m individual pursuit world record during the qualifying round before securing her second gold in the event.
"I was so unsure of myself," Petricola said.
"My body has been really fighting me hard, I've been in an MS flare for the last eight weeks and I've only been able to get on the bike because of the medical support I have received while we've been away.
"It's been a crazy, horrible period but this makes it worth it."
In a national rivalry as great as they come, Petricola raced against New Zealander Anna Taylor for the medal, with the Kiwi ahead early.
But experience proved to be the difference for the Aussie, who maintained a calm demeanour to slowly chip away at Taylor's lead.
She caught her opponent with more than a lap left to secure the medal.
In an emotional post-race interview Petricola reflected on a recent flare in her multiple sclerosis (MS) which had made it difficult to get on the bike in the crucial weeks leading into the Paris Games.
Making her way to family and friends after her race Petricola said the win felt "better than expected" to have her support network there in person after the empty stands of the 2020 Games.
"I'm not shocked because I've worked so hard, but it's been such a hard eight weeks in particular but the three years have been really, really hard," she said.
Petricola was first diagnosed with MS 17 years ago and said attending the Paralympics, and being surrounded by fellow para athletes has pushed her to keep performing.
A degenerative disease, MS causes numbness in the body, extreme fatigue, temporary loss of sight, foot drop, pain, and tremors.
Eight years after her diagnosis, determined to return to sport, she was encouraged by friends and Olympians Matt Ryan and Shane Kelly to get on a bike.
"What I've learnt is you can overcome almost anything," she said.
"You see people who are far more disabled than I am doing the things that they're doing, and you've got no excuse [not to] try, and that's what I keep telling myself over these last three years and in these last eight weeks, you've just got to try."
Petricola's win marked Australia's second gold medal at the National Velodrome in just 15-minutes with Korey Boddington taking top marks in the C4-5 1000m time trial prior.
In his Paralympic Games debut, Boddington set a Paralympic record in the heats before converting his fastest qualifying status to gold.
The 28-year-old made his world championship debut just last December and has already made a significant impact on the para-cycling world.
There was no mincing of his words post race as the elated winner told those at home to aim for the stars.
"If I worked as hard as I'm working now, I'd probably have been very good at school," Boddington said.
"This is unbelievable. I want to tell kids out there to go for their dreams. To fight for them. You gotta shoot for the stars."
No love lost for Aussies after disqualification
For the first time in over a decade the Australian 20-point mixed relay team qualified for the 4 x 50m freestyle final.
But there was no fairy tale ending for Grant Patterson, Ahmed Kelly, Holly Warn, and Chloe Osborn who were disqualified following a long deliberation after the race.
The Aussies touched eighth in the final after progressing into the last race by just 0.02 seconds.
It's understood that the disqualification came as a result of the third swimmer, Warn, not exiting the pool quick enough.
There were no dampened spirits though, with the quartet elated to have begun their campaigns with a bang.
Paralympic debutant Osborn said the race was a dream come true.
"Walking out there on your own would be so nerve wracking but knowing I had Ahmed with me and these guys on the other side of the pool, I knew I was going to be fine, I knew I had the team right behind me, I was really excited," Osborn said.
Kelly said the team was given "donkey chances" of making it to the final so to swim at all was insane.
There is plenty more action in the pool to come.
Love is in the air in Paris
We've officially had our first, and second, Paralympic proposals.
For those who missed it, on day one Lionel Morales Gonzalez of Spain proposed to his now fiance Jes in the athletes village.
On day two, after Brazilian Rogerio Junior Xavier de Oliveira was defeated in the para-badminton, he turned to crowd with a sign that read "Edwarda aceita casar comigo?" or "Edwarda will you marry me?".
Edwarda is a Paralympian herself, playing sitting volleyball for the Brazilian team.
Medal tally
With two days of competition wrapped up, Australia sits sixth on the medal tally with three gold, two silver and two bronze.
China's first, with 12 gold, nine silver, and four bronze. Great Britain, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Italy fill the other top spots.
Whichever way they want to work it, the United States has one gold, and six silver, in 12th place.
DAY ONE RECAP: 'I almost died after Tokyo': now he's Australia's first Paris Paralympic gold medallist
After the Tokyo Paralympics swimmer Thomas Gallagher almost died. Now he's a Paris gold medallist.
The 25-year-old from Perth held out a strong field - including teammate Rowan Crothers - to win the men's S10 50m freestyle in 23.04sec, just 0.24 shy of the world record.
Suffering from cerebral palsy which also affects his pancreas, Gallagher was hospitalised after Tokyo. Now he's won Australia's first gold.
"Being the first gold medal of the comp means so much for me," Gallagher said after the race.
"In Tokyo I was a different athlete, I had a lot of medical issues in my pancreas, so after the 400m, I ended up in hospital for about a month and nearly died.
"I luckily had a surgery a few years ago now that's fixed it all and I've managed to turn into a sprinter."
Crothers, often touted as the world's fastest disabled swimmer powered home to clinch bronze, giving Australia four medals on the first night in the pool.
Brenden Hall, who helped carry the flag in the opening ceremony the night before, kicked off proceedings.
But he was up against France's new hometown hero. Leon who? It only seems like yesterday that the roofing of La Defense Arena was blown off with chants of "Leon, Leon, Leon" as Monsieur Marchand ended the Olympics with his record-breaking golden haul.
On opening night of the Paralympic swimming, that chant had changed to "Ugo, Ugo, Ugo", as Ugo Didier won France's first gold medal of their home games.
Swimming in the men's S9 400m freestyle, Didier swam a perfect final few laps, reeling in the competition one by one. He touched and the stadium erupted in cheers once again.
Hall, swimming at his fifth Games, ended up with bronze with a late surge. He'd missed out on medals in Tokyo but not this time.
"I was after a little bit of redemption, and I just wanted to come back with a medal this time," Hall said after his race.
"I didn't care what colour it was and so to be able to do it in front of people who mean the most to me, that's what made me feel it the most."
Lakeisha Patterson led her S9 400m freestyle race, until she was caught in the final lap by Hungary's Zsofia Konkoly and she had to settle for silver. There were tears on the pool deck afterwards but she was happy to medal.
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"I know people probably had a lot of expectations on me to win gold tonight ... but that's sport, nothing is ever guaranteed," she told Nine.
"I'm really proud of myself after that performance, I know you see the tears, but it's been a really tough year ... I've had an injury to my neck and I don't like to make excuses, but this year has been one of the most challenging of my life, to be able to breath for eight laps is a pretty big deal."
Fan favourite Alexa Leary broke a Paralympic record in the women's S10 50m freestyle, swimming 27.69 in her heat, only to see United States swimmer Christie Raleigh-Crossley beat it in the next heat with a sizzling 27.28 which also set the world record. Then the record fell for a third time that night when China's Yi Chen swam 27.10 in the final to win gold. Leary finished sixth.
Rugby rivalry
Whatever the sport, whether it be netball, cricket or any of the football codes, there's something about playing Great Britain. The Steelers, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, went point for point against the defending gold medallists, losing 58-53.
"It's not the end, we've done this before in competitions where we've lost the first game and gone on to win," said captain Chris Bond.
"We kept fighting and that's what Australians do, we stuck it right to the end and we almost turned it over.
"It was a high-quality match, and there were a couple of bounces that could have gone our way and that happens sometimes, and we were thereabouts, but we didn't do enough."
The Steelers bounced back well against France to hold on for a 55-53 win to breathe a sigh of relief moving forward.
Ryley Batt marked 350 games for the side in the win and said the atmosphere was unreal in the do-or-die game.
"We're wearing Australian colours, I don't know what else gives you motivation, it's a honour to be out here, it's an honour to play in my sixth Paralympic Games, my 350th game," Batt said.
"We had to win... we've been in this position before, we've won World Championships and World Cups after losing the first game, so let's build on this."
The Steelers play Denmark in their final group game at 7:30pm on August 31, AEST.
Rollers stall
A tough opening match for the wheelchair basketball team too. They started hard, going into halftime 30-28 but some extraordinary shooting from Dutchman Mendel Op den Orth, steered the Netherlands to a 66-55 win.
Though they put up a good fight against Tokyo gold medallists Spain, the Rollers had no luck going down 60-68. A massive fourth quarter put the side back in wining contention but it was too little too late for the Australians.
What's on next?
Time flies when you're having fun and hasn't this just been a blast so far?
The action is back on from 4:30pm on Saturday, August 31 with Australia's women's para-badminton players lining up against India.
Back in the pool 200m freestyle heats for both men and women begin from 5:40pm with heats running through to approximately 8:00pm.
The Australian cycling team will be hoping to continue their success at the velodrome with men's and women's time trials coming from 6:00pm
The Steelers are back at 9:30pm for their final group game against Denmark, 3.30am on August 31 against home side France.
Our rowers will be given their second chances in the men's single sculls and mixed coxed four repechage rounds at Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium, but the big one for the Aussies will be on Sunday evening when Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager row for the first Paralympic PR3 mixed double sculls gold.
