Aaron Shorten finished seventh of the seven athletes in the T20 1500m final, but a time of 4:02.71 marked a season's best for the Kildare man.
Team GB's Ben Sandilands grabbed gold in a new world record of 3:45:40, with Sandro Baessa of Portgual clocking a personal best in second, while Michael Brannigan of the United States rounded off the podium places in the event for athletes with intellectual impairments.
Sandilands was third behind previous world record holder Brannigan and Italy's Ndiaga Dieng at the bell, but took off on the final lap to win by a yawning margin.
Freshly-minted Paralympian Aaron Shorten 'over the moon' after finishing seventh in the T20 1500m final in a season's best 4:02.71#RTEparalympics #Paris2024
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"I'm over the moon to get here," Shorten told RTÉ Sport afterwards. "It's my first ever Paralympic Games and it's been a dream come true and an honour to be here.
"I was hoping for a bit more, around three fifty-five was the time I was hoping for.
"That was a season's best, I haven't broken four minutes since last year, and I was hoping for a bit more but there are plenty more races and plenty more to come.
"I knew Michael Brannigan was going to lead it out and the plan was to go with him, but he took it out like a bullet.
"He took it out so quick and I was like 'wow, I didn't think he was going to take it out this quick' and the plan was to stay in the top three, but I fell back a bit.
"It's hard when you're not ranked one of the best going into it, but I've more to come and all I have to do is just keep training."
