Irish tandem Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal began their Paralympic campaign with a seventh place finish in the 1,000m B Time Trial in Rio.
The duo set a new sea-level personal best of 1:12.332 seconds at the Olympic Velodrome, briefly leading the competition before a succession of Paralympic record times dropped them well outside the medal placings.
Indeed, all three medal-winning riders, from Britain, the Netherlands and Australia, bettered the previous Paralympic best, with GB's Sophie Thornhill continuing her country's incredible record of success on the Rio track.
It's the opening race of a busy programme for the duo, who are competing in the pursuit on the track and the road race and time trial.
"It's great to get the first race done and settle the nerves a little bit," Dunlevy, originally from Crawley in England, told RTÉ Sport.
"I'm looking forward to it now, we are ready to race."
"That's not our favourite event, but it was great to start with that because we didn't feel any pressure," said Dundalk pilot McCrystal.
"It was nice to get through the warm-up and get that done. We can settle into it now."
