Compatriot Finlay Graham broke the Russian Paralympic Committee’s (RPC) Alexey Obydennov’s seven-year-old world record by almost seven seconds in the qualifying round.

But it only lasted for a few minutes as Van Gass made it to the final more than two seconds faster before winning gold.

Van Gass clinched victory in 3min 20.987sec as Graham came second in 3:22.000 and David Nicolas of Australia claimed bronze in 3:25.877.

"It's been a fantastic day," said Van Gass.

"I've worked very hard for this.

"It's nearly nine years of a lot of ups, probably more downs.

"He had been part of the team preparing for Rio 2016 but had not made the final squad.

"I left British Cycling and I had to reset a bit and I came back a few years later, and here we are in Tokyo," said the keen mountaineer after achieving a new life milestone.

"This is a summit of a different kind, but we're very happy to reach it."

Larissa Klassen showed that she is ready to take over the women's B 1000m time trial throne from Britain’s Sophie Thornhill who retired last year.

The Dutch cyclist and pilot Imke Brommer kept their cool as the last starters of the 1000m race to strike gold in a Paralympic record time of 1:05.291.

They finished ahead of three-times Paralympic champion Aileen McGlynn, piloted by Helen Scott of Britain, who came home in 1:06.743.

The bronze medal went to Belgium’s Griet Hoet and Anneleen Monsieur who crossed the finish line in 1:07.943.

"It was not clean but the feeling was that we were going fast, really fast," said Klaassen, who finished runner-up behind Thornhill at Rio 2016 as well as the two past World Championships.

"Around this time last year, I wasn't training and to be here at another Paralympic Games, to set a lifetime personal best time and come away with another silver medal is phenomenal," said McGlynn.

Alfonso Cabello Llamas battled it out with Britain’s Jody Cundy in the men's C4-5 1000m time trial.

The Spaniard beat his own world record from 2014 to take gold, winning in 1:01.557 as Cundy came second in 1:01.847.

Jozef Metelka of Slovakia clinched bronze after coming home in 1:04.786.

"I'm very happy this little margin ended up in my favour. Next time it might be his turn again," said Cabello.

Mikail Astashov of RPC overcame the challenge of Canada’s Tristen Chernove to secure gold in the men’s C1 3,000m individual pursuit.

Li Zhangyu of China clinched bronze.

Alexandre Leaute of France broke the world record in the men's C2 3,000m individual pursuit with a time of 3:31.478 to beat Darren Hicks of Australia who came home in 3:35.064.

Guihua Liang of China took third place in 3:34.781 to claim bronze.