Johannesburg - South Africa finished 25th on the medals table after Gerhard Zandberg secured the nation's third bronze on the final day of the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China on Sunday.
Zandberg, the 2007 world champion, repeated his performance in Rome two years ago, finishing third in the men's 50m backstroke final in 24.66 seconds.
World record holder Liam Tancock of Great Britain won gold in 24.50, and Camille Lacourt of France clinched silver in 24.57.
South Africa had picked up two bronze medals through Cameron van der Burgh earlier in the week.
It was the nation's lowest placing on the world championships table since they failed to pick up a medal in Perth in 1998 - although they finished higher with only one bronze in Fukuoka in 2001 and Barcelona in 2003.
Riaan Schoeman fell 0.05 seconds short of qualifying for the men’s 400m individual medley final, clocking 4:16.53 to finish ninth fastest in the morning heats on the last day of competition.
Kathryn Meaklim also missed out, clocking 4:41.07 to finish 11th fastest in the heats of the women’s 400m individual medley.
The SA men’s 4x100m medley relay quartet - Charl Crous, Cameron van der Burgh, Chad le Clos and Graeme Moore - were 10th in the heats in 3:36.47, and fell 0.28 seconds short of qualifying.
The United States topped the medals table with 17 gold, six silver and nine bronze.