Eoghan Clifford claimed Ireland's second medal of the 2016 Paralympics by taking the bronze medal in the C3 Individual Pursuit.
The Galway rider took on Michael Sametz, and despite recording a qualifying time four-tenths of a second slower than the Canadian, Clifford made no mistake when it came to the medal ride.
The 36-year-old raced into and early advantage, building up a 2.5second lead by the halfway mark and coasting from there to win by more than a second in a time of 3:40.201.
The gold medal was won by Australia's David Nicholas, who dethroned defending champion Joe Berenyi of the US in the final.
Our second medallist of the 2016 Paralympics! pic.twitter.com/MtWxbtHFjf
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 9, 2016
Clifford, who only took up the sport two years ago, had looked set to miss out on the medal race after slipping behind the Canadian's time in the penultimate heat, but Japan's Masaki Fujita set off at a torrid pace in the final heat and ran out of gas to let the Irishman sneak through.
Clifford was initially disappointed with the performance, telling RTÉ Sport before learning of his qualification: "Even if I happen to go through, my time is very bad.
"The injury issue that I've had all year, that I hoped wouldn't flare up, I knew six laps in that I was in trouble. I didn't come here to participate, or to come fourth or fifth.
"It's disappointing not to produce what I'm capable of on the day."
Having then found out he did make it through, the world champion time-triallist added: "I'm still disappointed, I wanted to be in the (gold) medal ride-off.
C3 Individual Pursuit rider Eoghan Clifford on the feeling that he has given something back after his bronze medal https://t.co/5ZtWY7u65T
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 9, 2016
That said, Clifford had much to be happy about with his bronze medal.
"Only for my coach and my physio I don't think I would have raced.
"I'm delighted for the people that supported me - my wife and my young daughter at home. If I hadn't won a medal I think I'd have felt that I let people down.
"All of us athletes are supported by the public - so this medal belongs to them - with our support from Sport Ireland. I'm delighted to give something back."
It wasn't such good news for Clifford's team-mate Colin Lynch, however.
The Canada-born rider missed out on the medal races in the C2 classification, finishing fifth out of the 10 competitors in a time of 3:53.300.
Lynch is also competing in the time trial and road race, and the 45-year-old remains upbeat that he can compete for a medal when the events hit the road.
"I've been training all year for the time trial, so I gave up a bit of my track skills in order to win that time trial," Lynch told RTÉ Sport.
"On that front everything is looking good and the course is perfect for me, so I'm hoping for a much better performance on Wednesday."
