Paralympic veterans Chris Scott and Kieran 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 one-tenth of a second ahead of Japan's Masashi Ishii for the win, in a time of 3 minutes 40.144 seconds.
But the cycling legend, who has cerebral palsy, said the victory was particularly sweet, given Beijing will 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',” he said.
“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 got 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.
“After what I've been through ... I've seen my bike more than I have seen (my wife),” Scott said.
“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 Aussies with an overall tally of two golds, a silver and three bronze medals at the Laoshan Velodrome.
Three-time Paralympian Greg Ball won Australia's first medal of the Games with a bronze in the 1km time trial, also earning a world record in the process.
The 34-year-old, who suffers a neurological disease affecting the use of his lower body, crossed the line in 1 minute 17.681 seconds, the fastest time ever ridden by an LC4 cyclist.
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 (Toireasa) Gallagher, who took bronze.
