South African Olympic champion Chad le Clos has won gold in Turkey.

Le Clos won the final of the men’s 100m butterfly at the FINA short-course world championships in Istanbul yesterday.

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 but he still clocked an impressive time.

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

2012 has been a pretty sweet year for Le Clos, who was also named South African Sports Star of the year.

But his year will most definitely be defined by this moment – when he beat American legend, and his hero Michael Phelps, in the final of the 200m butterfly at the London Olympics.

Image via Facebook/Chad-Le-Clos