Cape Town - Cape Town - South Africa's Chad le Clos has won gold in the men's 100m butterfly at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Istanbul on Thursday.

The 20-year-old finished in a blistering time of 48.82 seconds after being ahead of the world record tempo at the 50m mark. In the end he finished 0.34 seconds slower than the world record of 48.48.

It was a marked improvement for the Durbanite, who on Wednesday reached the final in a much slower time of 50.16.

The American duo of Thomas Shields (49.54) en Ryan Lochte (49.59) won silver and bronze respectively.

Le Clos won silver in this event at the London Olympics earlier this year, with his biggest achievement coming when he won gold in the 200m butterfly.

Another notable South African performance came from Vanessa Mohr who made it into the semi-finals of the women's 50m butterfly in a time of 26.16.

However, the second day of competition saw Karin Prinsloo and Lehesta Kemp (women's 100m freestyle); Michael Meyer (men's 400m individual medley); Marne Erasmus (women's 50m butterfly); Leith Shankland (men's 50m freestyle); Rene Warnes; Amanda Loots (women's 100m individual medley), Jessica Pengelly and Michelle Weber (women's 800m freestyle) all failing to make it out of their heats.

Results from second day of world short course swimming championships on Thursday (finals only):

Men

100m backstroke

1. Matthew Grevers (USA) 49.89
2. Stanislav Donets (RUS) 49.91
3. Guilherme Guido (BRA) 50.50

100m butterfly

1. Chad Le Clos (RSA) 48.82
2. Thomas Shields (USA) 49.54
3. Ryan Lochte (USA) 49.59

100m breaststroke

1. Fabio Scozzoli (ITA) 57.10
2. Damir Dugonjic (SLO) 57.32
3. Kevin Cordes (USA) 57.83

400m medley

1. Daiya Seto (JPN) 3:59.15
2. Laszlo Cesh (HUN) 4:00.50
3. David Verraszto (HUN) 4:02.87

Women

100m backstroke

1. Olivia Smoliga (USA) 56.64
2. Mie Oestergaard Nielsen (DAN) 57.07
3. Simona Baumrtova (CZE) 57.18

50m breaststroke

1. Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 29.44
2. Alia Atkinson (JAM) 29.67
3. Sarah Katsoulis (AUS) 29.94