Day 1 of the Tokyo Paralympics is officially in the books. Several medals were awarded on Wednesday, with the United States earning a pair of silvers for its first medals of the Games. It was also a busy day for Team USA's wheelchair rugby, women's wheelchair basketball and women's goalball teams.

Below is a rundown of some of the key events that took place on Day 1 of the Paralympic Games.

The U.S. wheelchair rugby team, which won the silver medal in Rio, had its way with New Zealand in its first contest of the Tokyo Paralympics. Team USA outscored New Zealand in all four periods to secure a 63-35 win, led by Chuck Aoki's 14 tries in 13:15 minutes of playing time. Josh Wheeler had a strong performance as well, finishing with 13 tries while leading the U.S. with five steals.

In a Group A clash between Australia and Denmark, the Danish squad completed the upset and took down the reigning gold medalists in what was a back-and-forth affair from the start. Sebastian Frederiksen was outstanding for Denmark, leading his team with 29 tries. Mark Ingemann Peters also stood out with 17 tries and three steals.

Great Britain edged Canada 50-47 in a Group B matchup. Jim Roberts led the winning team with 27 tries and a steal in 32 minutes played; Stuart Robinson added 14 tries and one steal. Zak Madell led Canada with a whopping 31 tries in 32 minutes.  

Japan defeated France 53-51 in a nail-biter. The teams were tied at 41 heading into the fourth quarter and went back-and-forth until the final minute, when the host nation pulled ahead. Yukinobu Ike led Japan with 20 tries, while Daisuke Ikezaki and Shinichi Shimakawa each added double-digit tries. Jonathan Hivernat racked up 31 tries for France.

Swimming had 16 medal events in its first finals session of the Tokyo Games.

Ellie Marks won the United States' first swimming medal of the Games, taking second by just 0.04 seconds in the women's S6 50-meter freestyle. Ukraine's Yelyzaveta Mereshko set a Paralympic record to win the event in 33.11.

Two world records fell on Day 1: The Russian Paralympic Committee's Valeriia Shabalina broke her own world record in the women's S14 100-meter butterfly, going 1:03.59, and in the men's SB3 50-meter breaststroke, teammate Roman Zhdanov slashed a second off the world record at 46.49. 

A number of Paralympic records also went down. Australia's William Martin won the first swimming gold of the Games in record fashion, topping the men's S9 400-meter freestyle in 4:10.25. Martin was on track to break the world record until fading in the final meters of the race.

Italy's Francesco Bocciardo won the men's S5 200-meter freestyle by more than eight seconds, going 2:26.76 to break the Paralympic record from London 2012.

Multiple other Paralympic veterans picked up golds on the first day of competition, including Singapore's Yip Pin Xiu in the women's S2 100 backstroke (by nearly 10 seconds); Belarus' Ihar Boki in the men's S13 100-meter butterfly (his 14th Paralympic medal); and China's Zhang Li, who battled back from behind in the final 50 meters of the women's S5 200 free.

Japan's Miyuki Yamada took the silver in the women's S2 100 back, the host nation's first medal of the Games.

Paige Greco of Australia entered the Paralympics as one of the favorites to win gold in the women's C1-3 individual pursuit, and she delivered by outpacing Xiaomei Wang of China to win the title. At 24 years old, this is Greco's first medal at the Paralympics. 

In the women's C4 3000m individual pursuit, American para cyclist Shawn Morelli earned silver to give Team USA its first medal of these Paralympic Games. Finishing ahead of Morelli was Emily Petricola, who joined her compatriot Greco in winning gold for Australia. Petricola had her own world record in her sights, but opted to simply take the gold medal

In the women's C5 3000m individual pursuit, it was the battle of the Brits as Dame Sarah Storey and Crystal Lane-Wright competed for the gold. In the end, it was Storey who earned the title after she overlapped her countrywoman. Competing in her eighth Paralympics, Storey now has a ridiculous 15 gold medals under her belt between cycling and swimming.

On the men's side, Tristan Bangma of the Netherlands earned gold in the men's B 4000m individual pursuit final by overlapping Stephen Bate of Great Britain. At 23 years old, Bangma now has a gold medal in two straight Paralympics. He also earned gold in Rio in 2016.

Team USA's women's wheelchair basketball squad fell to the Dutch by a score of 68-58 late Tuesday night. Despite strong performances from Rose Hollermann (14 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists) and Lindsey Zurbrugg (20 points, four assists), the U.S. could not successfully defend the 52-50 lead it took into fourth quarter, allowing the Netherlands to score 18 points in the game's final 10 minutes. The Netherlands' Mariska Beijer was a star throughout the game, logging 28 points while making 52 percent of her shots.

The United States women, the 2016 bronze medalists, got a win in their first match of the Tokyo Games. The Americans defeated Brazil 6-4 in the second matchup of Group D play. Amanda Dennis led the U.S. effort with three goals, while Eliana Mason added two. Jessica Gomes led Brazil with two goals.