Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey has successfully defended her 200-metre freestyle title at the World Short Course Swimming Championships.

The double Olympic silver medalist and the event's world record holder took gold in the final in Melbourne on Sunday.

Rebecca Smith of Canada finished second and Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands won bronze.

Haughey's time of 1 minute 51.65 seconds was more than 1 second off her world record.

She earlier won the silver medal in the women's 100-metre freestyle.