( CNN ) -- Olympic champion Michael Phelps admitted it was good to be back on the winning trail after securing his first gold medal at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai . Defending champion Phelps , from the United States , came first in the men 's 200 meters butterfly a day after he was pipped to gold in the 200m freestyle by compatriot Ryan Lochte . He won in a time of one minute 53.34 seconds to beat Japan 's Takeshi Matsuda , who had led with 50m to go , into second while China 's Wu Peng claimed the bronze medal . Phelps , a 14-time Olympic gold medal winner , has had a disappointing year but said he was relieved to pick up his first gold in China and now wanted to embark on a lengthy unbeaten run . `` A lot of it is being fitter but also I did n't want to lose that race again , '' he told reporters . `` Having a number of defeats this year is extremely frustrating for me and I did n't like the feeling . `` So I kind of wanted to have the feeling of winning a race again . It feels good to win a race . It does n't matter what it is so I dug as deep as I could that last 50 , just tried to finish as strong as I could . `` I knew ( bronze medallist ) Wu Peng was finishing very well , he finished very well yesterday and Takeshi has always been there at the end . I kind of tried to put it into the biggest over-gear I could put it in and just get to the wall . '' Phelps won a record-breaking haul of eight gold 's at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but had suffered a run of defeats leading into the World Championships . Despite landing his first gold in Shanghai , and swimming quicker than last year , he says there is still more to come . `` I 'm super-happy with swimming faster than I did last year , close to a second-and-a-half but I still want more in that event and I want to be faster . I think that was a little too close for my comfort , '' he added . Phelps will go head-to-head with Lochte again on Thursday as they do battle in the 200m individual medley final . Elsewhere , Federica Pellegrini , from Italy , regained her women 's 200m freestyle crown and in the process made history as the first female to win both the 200m and 400m freestyle at consecutive World Championships . The men 's 50m breaststroke title went to Brazil 's Felipe Franca da Silva , who pipped Italy 's Fabio Scozzoli and defending champion Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa to the line . And China took another gold as Sun Yang won the men 's 800m freestyle title , beating Canada 's Ryan Cochrane into second . Hungary 's Gergo Kis took bronze .
Federica Pellegrini wins his first gold medal of the World Swimming Championships . Phelps successfully defends his 200m butterfly title in a time of one minute 53.34 seconds 53.34 secs . China 's CNN takes silver while China 's Wu Peng won bronze . Federica Pellegrini adds women 's eight m freestyle to her 400m freestyle title .