Australia has won two gold medals within 15 minutes in the velodrome on day two of the Paralympic Games in Paris.

Cyclist Emily Petricola successfully defended her Tokyo Paralympic title in the C4 3000-metre individual pursuit final.

Overcoming a painful flare-up of multiple sclerosis, she also smashed her own world record by two seconds in the qualifying round.

Just 15 minutes earlier, the ‘flying burrito’ Korey Boddington won gold in the men’s C4-5 1000-metre time trial final in his first-ever Paralympic cycling race.

Jessica Gallagher took silver in the women’s B 1000-metre time trial, the final cycling event of the day.

Meanwhile, the Steelers wheelchair rugby team have kept their medal hopes alive with a bruising 55-53 win over France.

‘Pretty amazing’

It was an emotional victory for Petricola after battling weeks of a multiple sclerosis flare-up that caused spasms on her left side leading up to Paris.

The 44-year-old chipped away at the lead of her opponent, NZ cyclist Anna Taylor, catching and overtaking her with more than a lap to spare.

“It’s been such a hard eight weeks. These three years have been really, really hard. My body has been fighting me really hard,” she told Channel Nine.

“It’s been a crazy, horrible period, but this makes it worth it.”

Petricola was diagnosed with MS at age 27 and describes it as an “invisible disability”, affecting life in unseen ways — from tremors to sight loss to extreme fatigue and more.

She said she was grateful to win for the people who had been through the highs and lows with her.

“I’ve been in an MS flare-up for the last eight weeks and I literally could only get on the bike because of the medical support I’ve received whilst being away.

“This one has caused a lot of muscle spasm through my back, my left leg and then into my neck… my abdominal area — the whole thing is gone.

“We’ve had to manage my load just to make sure my leg turns over on the bike and I just kept telling myself that my body is trained for this, to go on autopilot and get it done.

“I feel so incredibly proud… I sang (the anthem) completely out of tune but I refuse to apologise for that.”

She said defending her title was “better than I expected”.

“I have people from home that are with me here. This is the first time they were able to see me race internationally. I feel so proud.,” she said.

“I have my brother and his kids, my best friends, my oldest friends. These are the people that picked me up when I was at my lowest point when I first got sick.

“They’ve seen me at my worst and now they got to see that I have done something pretty amazing.”

Boddington, known as the ‘Flying Burrito, was the last of six riders to take his turn in the final, but displayed nerves of steel on the track.

He took Australia’s second gold medal of the Paralympics Games after swimmer Tom Gallagher won the S10 50-metre freestyle on Friday (AEST).

Boddington, who has an acquired brain injury, set a Paralympic record of 1:02.021 in the morning’s heats before blistering the final.

He was injured in a motocross accident as a 15-year-old on the Sunshine Coast in 2011.

“If I worked as hard as I’m working now, I’d probably have been very good at school,” Boddington joked.

“This is unbelievable. I want to tell kids out there to go for their dreams. To fight for them. You gotta shoot for the stars.”

Australia’s other medallists

Gold: Tom Gallagher (swimming, men’s S10 50-metre freestyle). The 25-year-old secured Australia’s first gold medal to complete a remarkable comeback story after nearly dying with pancreatitis following the Tokyo Games.

Silver: Lakeisha Patterson (swimming, S9 women’s 400-metre freestyle) — The Victorian looked certain to grab Australia’s first gold medal of the games but she was pipped at the post by Sofia Konkoly of Hungary.

Bronze: Brenden Hall (swimming, S9 men’s 400-metre freestyle) — Five-time Paralympian Hall came third in an enthralling race where French hero Ugo Didier sealed a dramatic late win.

Rowan Crothers (swimming, men’s S10 50-metre freestyle) — Finished narrowly behind Gallagher but couldn’t have been happier for his fellow Australian.

-with AAP