The Staffordshire-based rider, who is the current world champion, rode Chipchaseknes to a score of 67.96 points to finish a point ahead of Denmark's Brita Anderson.

Britain's other rider, Dianne Tubbs, on Jaenaadi Jedi, finished in sixth position with 65.18 points.

Pearson said: "I'm gobsmacked but ecstatic. I didn't think today would be my day. I wasn't feeling too good yesterday or this morning, but this has lifted me."

The feat was made the more remarkable considering Pearson only found out he was riding the horse six days ago.

"He is quite lethargic, not what we in the trade call a push button mount," he said. "I had to do a lot to keep him up to his work."

Pearson has targeted the team event as his next objective.

Marvellous

"That is our aim now and it would be marvellous to pull together and win that," he added.

Despite Pearson's success at Horsley Park, there was disappointment for Thomas Evans, who finished just five seconds outside the medals in the 5km cycling time trial.

Evans, who missed out on the medals in Atlanta, finished just behind bronze medallist Marius Louw of South Africa in a time of eight minutes and 26 seconds to end his medal hopes in Sydney.

He said: "I rode it as hard as I could and all the lines were perfect.

"I'm just so disappointed as it was my dream to win gold. I was giving it maximum effort all the way.

The gold eventually was won by Yong-Sik Jin of Korea in a time of eight minutes and 15 seconds.

Dream

"It is the one title I don't possess so it was my dream. I'm gutted," the Corby rider added.

Meanwhile, Britain's men's wheelchair basketball team face a difficult semi-final against the unbeaten Canadians, who beat them 55-50 in the qualifying stages.

However, that result will have no bearing according to captain Simon Munn, who believes his side have every chance of making Saturday's final.

He said: "If you want to be the best in the world you can't shy away from playing the number one team in the world.

"Our confidence is soaring as each game goes by. We've always believed that we're up there and better than our ranking of fifth in the world."

Coach Dave Titmuss believes his side will be successful if they maintain a positive attitude.

He said: "In a short space of time we've gone from fourth in Europe to fourth in the world.

"The team have the technical ability. The challenge now is a mental one."