"OVER the moon".

Those are the words of Proserpine cyclist David Nicholas, minutes after he won a gold medal in the C3 3000m individual pursuit at the Paralympics.

Nicholas came from behind, in a controlled ride, to beat 2016 World Champion Joseph Berenyi from the United States of America.

"I've got no words to describe how I feel," Nicholas said.

Berenyi was seven tenths of a second up on the Australian after one kilometre.

At the two kilometre mark the American still held a half second lead but Nicholas' coach Nick Formosa knew what the 24-year-old could do.

"It was so tough," Nicholas said about the race.

"In the back of my mind I hoped I had a bit left in the tank for the last kilometre or so."

"So when the call came to lift over the last few laps I tried to empty the tank and hoped it was enough to get him."

It's the second Paralympic gold for Nicholas who won the road time trial in London.

Nicholas said the atmosphere in the velodrome was really good.

"I've got friends here and teammates of mine cheering me on," he said.

"We all support each other, it's really good."

There were tears shed by Nicholas, who has cerebral palsy, after the gold medal ride.

"I worked very hard over the past four years to get this medal," said Nicholas.

"Working with Nick is great he's a fine coach and my buddy."

What makes the win even more amazing, was last year the Whitsunday Regional Council IT worker was placed in a coma on life support, suffering from pulmonary pneumonia.

Nicholas will be back on the track on Sunday, Brazil time, in the team sprint event.