A late disqualification has seen Australian cyclist Darren Hicks bumped up to the gold medal race at the Paralympics in Tokyo.

Australian Darren Hicks has been promoted to the gold medal race in the men’s C2 3000m individual pursuit after one of his opponents was disqualified.

Hicks was initially resigned to competing in the bronze medal race after finishing third in qualifying at the Paralympics on Thursday.

But he has been thrust into the gold medal battle against France’s new world record holder Alexandre Leaute after Belgium superstar Ewoud Vromant was disqualified.

Vromant had set a new world record in qualifying but was later disqualified for a technicality ruling related to his saddle.

It means the world record now goes to Leaute, whose time of three minutes 31.817 seconds beat out the previous official record of 3:36.322 set by Vromant in 2020.

Hicks posted a time of 3:33.589 in qualifying and will start as the underdog in the final.

Australian David Nicholas will race for bronze against Spain’s Eduardo Santas Asensio in the men’s C3 3000m individual pursuit.

-AAP