Wellington cyclist Paula Tesoriero set a world record in winning gold in the 500m time trial at the Beijing Paralympics yesterday.
Tesoriero recorded 43.281sec to finish ahead of German rider Natalie Simanowski, with Australia's Jayme Paris third.
Tesoriero was elated with the victory.
"I feel fantastic. Absolutely fantastic," she said.
Otago's Henk Dijkstra lost both his matches on Sunday, as New Zealand's boccia athletes began their campaign with mixed results.
Dijkstra lost a close match to Thailand's Vilasinee Sukkarath 4-5 but was thrashed by Grigorios Polychronids, of Greece, 19-0.
Auckland player Mandy Slade also lost both her matches.
The best was Liam Sanders, competing in the BC1 class for athletes with less severe physical disabilities.
He won two matches and lost one to lead his group with one match qualifying match remaining.
In BC2 competition, Jeremy Morris and Maurice Toon both recorded a win and a loss.
They are in the same group, with Morris emerging victorious against his compatriot 9-4.
In another group, Kerry Bonner lost both his opening matches.
The best of the BC3 New Zealand athletes was Greig Jackson, who had a win and loss.
Elsewhere, visually impaired track cyclist Jayne Parsons and pilot were fifth in the women's 1km time trial, clocking 1min 14.048sec.
