Never satisfied with less than perfect, Australia's summer golden girl Lauren Parker is refusing to waver in belief after enduring a baptism of fire at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
On debut as a para-Nordic athlete at the Paralympics, Parker fell one spot shy of the women's cross-country sprint classic sitting semi-finals with a qualifying finish in 13th on Tuesday (local time).
The legendary Oksana Masters took gold for her 21st Paralympic medal - and second of the Games.
But it was a bitter pill to swallow for two-time summer Paralympic gold medallist Parker, who finished 13th in the biathlon sprint and ninth in the individual 12.5km biathlon race to kick off her campaign in Italy.
A gold medallist in para-cycling and para-triathlon, Parker is competing at her first Winter Games just nine months after first taking up the Nordic sports.
"I was really hoping to make the semis (in the sprint). I really believed that I could," Parker said.
"I missed by one. I'm not a sprinter though, but you know.
"I didn't get a great warm-up, and then we were just sitting around beforehand, before the race started for a while - not what you want before a sprint."
Fellow Australian debutant Matt Brumby also endured heartache in the men's sitting, crashing to last in 37th in qualification
Dave Miln finished 28th in the same event, while Taryn Dickens was 13th in the women's vision impaired event with guide Lynn-Maree Cullen.
"You really have one job: not fall over. Especially on a sprint," Brumby said.
"Coming to check to get into a classic track, I just lost the pole. The strap came undone, and then I fell over.
"Trying to get back up off the ground took a little bit longer than what it normally does.
"And then you go, "Oh, I'll just keep going", but it's hard to take.
"No one likes to see their name last on the list."
The Australian team will return to compete in the 10km interval start classic on Wednesday.
"Tomorrow's going to hurt," Brumby said.
AAP travelled to Cortina d'Ampezzo as a guest of Paralympics Australia.
