Damien Vereker and Sean Hahessy’s dreams of a shootout for Paralympic gold ended after they finished eighth in the individual tandem 4K pursuit.

With the fastest two riders progressing to a race for gold, the Irish pair set the pace, shooting to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 4:20.139.

With eight competitors to go, they were still in with a strong shout of making the podium, lying in second.

But strong performances from the British, Dutch and Spanish saw Vereker and  Hahessy tumble down to eighth, outside the top-four finish they required to compete for a medal.

Great Britain's Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby will face off with Dutch pair Vincent ter Schure and Timo Franse for the gold.

Vereker and Hahessy can be pleased with their performance however. A newly formed partnership, their only competitive action before the Games came in a World Cup race in Spain earlier this year.

Speaking afterwards, the pair had clearly emptied the tank, saying; “The track here is pretty weird, it’s hard to find your groove, and when you’re riding in zone five it’s even harder.

"We were hoping for a 4.16 but that’s dependent on conditions. 4.20 is pretty quick. We’re not here for PBs or top 10s, we’re here for a medal.

"You could hear a big cheer on the start line and hear it all the way around. You’re trying to block it out and concentrate on laptimes.”