It's a bold claim and he's right. Evan O'Hanlon, 28, is a five-time Paralympic gold medallist on the track. He's the only athlete with cerebral palsy to run under 11 seconds for the blue riband 100 metres.

Boasting an unbeaten record at Paralympic level, he's gunning for a third consecutive gold in his 100m category. More than that, he wants to set a new world record.

At the Olympic Stadium on Monday, the 28-year-old cruised in his 100m heat run, qualifying second fastest for the final on Tuesday night (11.43pm AEST).

He was in no mood for idle chatter, however.

This wasn't a day for pleasantries. He ran his race, promptly left the track and ignored requests for an interview. The best way to describe it was that he had his game face on.

But we know his intentions in Rio.

The champion across three distances in the T38 category in London four years ago – 100m, 200m and 400m – is gunning to win the 100 and 400 (the 200 is not the program this time) and wants to leave his mark on the sport.

"At the moment I'm at the point in my career where winning gold medals is great and something I need to do, and really like doing," he told the International Paralympic Committee website last year.

"But now I really want to bring the world record down as far as possible so that I can leave my name there forever once I retire.

"I want to set a time that no-one will be able to go past, so that my name will always be part of Paralympic history."

Australia's athletics team leader at the Rio Paralympics, Andrew Faichney, said O'Hanlon was an exceptional athlete who, admittedly, gets in the zone around competition time.

"He just gets very focused and he knows what he needs to do to perform," Faichney says

"O'Hanlon and his coach Irina (Dvoskina) prepare themselves meticulously and they certainly go through what they need to do to get the performance.

"He's a very, very good competitor and a fantastic athlete."