Swimming out of Lane 2 in the men's 200m butterfly final, Le Clos touched the wall in third place in a time 1:54.15.
Hungarian 19-year-old teenage superstar Kristof Milak smashed Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record, stopping the clock in a time of 1:50.73.
Phelps' old record set in Rome in 2009 stood at 1:51.51.
Japan's Daiya Seto took home the silver in a time of 1:53.86.
The 18-strong South African swimming team has struggling greatly to date with only Le Clos and Tatjana Schoenmaker reaching a final, let alone a semi-final.
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Le Clos wins SA's first medal in South Korea
Cape Town - Chad le Clos has won South Africa's first medal of the 2019 FINA World Championship in Gwangju, South Korea on Wednesday.
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