Warias clocked a time of 1 hour 49min 11sec to hold off Belgium’s Kris Bosmans and Italy’s Fabio Anobile, the respective silver and bronze medallists, in a sprint finish.

"I saw the others were really, really close to me so I put everything in and luckily it worked out," the two-time world champion, who had to settle for a silver medal at London 2012, said. 

"When it comes to a sprint, everyone can win and of course I knew the other guys and they are very strong, so I had to have luck to win."

Durst, meanwhile, came home in 50:57 with Great Britain’s David Stone three seconds back in the silver medal position after beating Colombia’s Nestor Ayala Ayala in a sprint to the line.

"In this race it was important 800 metres before the finish line," said the German.

"I knew I was first and this was the win.

"The guy who comes into the last left bend is the winner so for me I knew I had the win then.

"It is great to win gold."

In the women’s C1-2-3 race, the United States’ Jamie Whitmore prevailed in a sprint finish to claim her first Paralympic gold medal in 1:30:14.

China’s Zeng Sini took the silver medal and Germany’s Denise Schindler came away with bronze.

Today’s other female winner was Australia’s Carol Cooke, who eased to victory in the women’s T1-2 race in a time of 1:07:51.

Her nearest challenger Jill Walsh of the US was 17 seconds back in the runners-up spot, with Germany’s Jana Majunke 28 seconds off the pace in third.

The final race of the day was the mixed team relay, won by the Italian trio of Vittorio Podesta, Luca Mazzone and Alessandro Zanardi in a time of 32min 34sec.

America's trio of William Lachenauer, William Groulx and Oscar Sanchez secured the silver medal in 33:21 and Belgium’s Jean-Francois Deberg, Christophe Hindricq and Jonas van de Steene came third in 34:02.