Cape Town - A Chad le Clos-led South African 4x50m freestyle relay team weren't quick enough to secure a medal on Friday at the 14th FINA World Swimming short course Championships in Hangzhou, China.

The SA quartet of Bradley Tandy, Le Clos, Douglas Erasmus and Ryan Coetzee stopped the clock in a time of 1:24.14 - which was good enough for fifth place.

The United States line-up smashed the Russian Federation's world record of 1:22.60 when they clocked a blistering 1:21.80. 

Le Clos and Coetzee will be back in the pool at 13:33 SA time for the semi-finals of the men's 50m butterfly.

South African team in Hangzhou:

Men

Chad le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh, Brad Tandy, Ryan Coetzee, Ayrton Sweeney, Douglas Erasmus

Women

Erin Gallagher, Emily Visagie, Rebecca Meder