Matt Welsh broke a three-year international drought by winning gold in the men's 100m backstroke at the world shortcourse swimming championships.

It was Welsh's first victory in a major competition since the longcourse world championships in Spain in 2003, where he took out the 50m backstroke.

Welsh, 28, took the lead in the final lap, winning in a time of 51.09 ahead of Austria's Markus Rogan who took the silver and Randall Ball from the US with the bronze.

"I'm really happy with that. It's the first time I've won a gold medal in an international competition for three years, and I couldn't be happier," he said.

"Before the race I was looking around the call room and I thought to myself this was a very strong field, but I had a plan and I am proud that I stuck to it."

His win capped a strong start to the second day of the championships by the Australians with Jade Edmistone and Brooke Hanson going one-two in the women's 50m breaststroke.

Edmistone, the world record holder, won the gold medal in a time of 30.22, with Hanson close behind in 30.40.

American Jessica Hardy took out the bronze.

Having just won two silver medals from the recent Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Edmistone was pleased with her back-up performance.

"I came here just wanting to put together my best possible race and in the end, winning is all that counts," she said.

Edmistone, who also won the longcourse championship in Montreal in 2005, now adds the 25-metre pool shortcourse title to her achievements.

"To win the longcourse world championship was unbelievable, and to back that up with the shortcourse world championship is just as sweet," she said.

Australia's Tayliah Zimmer won silver in the women's 100m backstroke while Brenton Rickard took silver in the men's 100m breaststroke.

Meanwhile FINA chiefs have brushed off worries about the poor turnout by top athletes.

Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Aaron Piersol and Pieter van den Hoogenband are among the premier swimmers to have skipped the biannual tournament, which has also been plagued by low attendance.

"We're not concerned about that," said Cornel Marculescu, executive director of the sport's governing body.

"Swimming is a big sport and it's impossible to have all the stars here together in one competition. Even in other sports you don't get this."

FINA president Mustapha Larfaoui said the lack of big names gave new talent a chance to shine.

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