For one of Australia's most successful Paralympian sprinters, Evan O'Hanlon, the end of his career was met with more than a tinge of disappointment. After winning gold medals in his 100m class in Beijing and London, this time he's going home with silver.

On the same track where Usain Bolt recorded triples of his own, the 28-year-old's assault on a hat-trick of 100m titles just wasn't meant to be.

In warm conditions at the Olympic Stadium, Jianwen Hu, of China, blitzed the field to take gold - and O'Hanlon's world record in the process - his win in 10.74 seconds, beating the Australian's previous marker from London by five one-hundredths of a second.

"Today just wasn't my day and these games are just not my games," O'Hanlon said afterwards, all but confirming his retirement.

"I can't complain, I just got beaten by a faster guy on the day, and for him to run a world record to beat me is amazing.

"If he ran slow and beat me I'd probably be pretty upset, but he's run fast so I can't take anything from him."

It's now time to start thinking about starting a family with his wife, Zuzana Schindlerova, he said, who represented the Czech Republic in the 20km walk at the 2008 Olympic Games.

"She's retired now and runs our cafe. She's retired from the life of an athlete and still has to live it vicariously through me. I think that's a pretty tough job so congratulations to her," O'Hanlon said.

"I'll go have my honeymoon now and think about what we're going to do in the future. But to be honest we want to start a family, and to give them the best start in life I think I'm going to have to step away from the track, regrettably.

"I just don't think I can give my family the best start in life if I'm being an athlete and living off the funding that we receive without having another job. I don't think that I can be an athlete and compete at that level if I have a job as well. I think I'll be stepping away from the track."

O'Hanlon, a coffee lover, looks forward to a honeymoon in South America and time at a coffee farm owned by friends.

Proud to be a five-time Paralympic gold medallist, O'Hanlon, who has cerebral palsy, at least broke the 11-second marker once again, coming home in 10.98 seconds.

All this despite an imperfect preparation in Rio.

"Going into the heats just before the start line I had a calf cramp and had to jog through my heats. So I didn't get a great prep in there," he said.

"I spent the night tossing and turning because my calf was still sore until this morning. It was probably just playing a bit on my mind. And then I get to the start line and my tape measure broke, to measure out my blocks. It's just not my games."

O'Hanlon will also compete in the men's 400m (T38 class) this week.