Short track speed skater Brendan Corey has achieved something not even managed by Australian great Steven Bradbury, winning a solo medal at the Short Track World Championships.

Corey won bronze in the hotly contested 1,500 metres in Rotterdam behind China's Long Sun and home skater Jens van't Wout.

Corey may have thought his chance of a medal had gone after the Dutchman passed him going into the final corner to push Corey into fourth.

However, fittingly given short track's chaotic nature, Corey was later promoted to third thanks to an incident between the two pre-race favourites from South Korea.

Defending champion Park Ji Won and 2022 Olympic gold medallist Hwang Dae Heon fought hard throughout, with Hwang interfering with Park earlier in the race and being relegated as a result despite crossing the line first

"I was quite lucky but I tried my best," Sun admitted after sliding through to win the gold medal, his first at a World Championships.

Corey though, was thrilled to make history for Australia.

"I've never experienced anything like this," the 27-year-old Canada-born skater told the ISU.

"I felt confident before the race because I know I'm strong right now. I've been working hard all year and everything has accumulated.

"I just went out there and tried to stay relaxed. I blocked everything out except the race."

Corey, who grew up in New Brunswick, made his debut for Australia at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals of the 1,000m event.

He qualified for Australia due to his grandparents.

Corey had never finished on the podium at a World Championships, his previous best finishing position sixth in the 1,500m last season in Montreal.

"I have no idea when Australia last won a medal at the World Championships," Corey said.

"It means so much."

It has been 30 years since Australia medalled at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, when Bradbury won silver in the 5,000m relay in Guilford with Richard Nizielski, Andrew Murtha and Kieran Hansen — the quartet that would win Australia's first ever Winter Olympics medal in Lillehammer that same year.

That quartet also won bronze in 1993 in Beijing and gold in 1991 in Sydney to be crowned Australia's first world champions.

Australia had also won silver medals in the 5,000-metre relay in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1983.

The International Skating Union (ISU) held short track events from 1976 but held World Championships for the first time in 1980. Earlier events were retrospectively classed as World Championships.