Michael Phelps made a winning return to the pool at the world short course championships on Thursday, capturing the 200 metres freestyle title and the first of a possible six gold medals.

But while the charismatic Phelps grabbed the spotlight, it was teammate Kaitlin Sandeno who produced the performance of the evening.

Sandeno stormed to three golds in the women's event, despite suffering from slight concussion, as the U.S. dominated the first day of competition by winning all five finals.

Back in the pool for the first time since the Olympics, Phelps launched his bid for a repeat of his six golds in Athens by touching first in the 200 freestyle in one minute 43.59 seconds to the delight of the large crowd at the Conseco Field House.

Canada's Richard Say, who was the top qualifier ahead of Phelps, finished second in 1:44.39 while Ryan Lochte of the U.S. took the bronze in 1:44.97.

"There are going to be a lot of tough races this week," said Phelps, who will be back in the pool on Friday morning for the preliminary heats of the 400 individual medley. "I'm glad to have one under my belt.

HURTING BAD

"I'm tired," the 19-year-old American told reporters. "I was really hurting pretty bad over the final 75 metres. I was definitely in pain.

"My body has been beaten up pretty good in the last three months."

Distracted by sponsor commitments, endorsements and promotional appearances since his return from Athens six weeks ago, Phelps led from the gun but could never power clear of Say, who owns the fifth fastest time ever in the event.

With Phelps never seriously threatened, neither was the world record of 1:41.10 held by his Australian rival Ian Thorpe, who is not competing here.

Phelps said: "This is my first short course gold medal so I guess it's pretty special. This is nothing to put down. I'm excited to be here and excited to win my first medal in front of the home crowd."

Sandeno, a triple Olympic medallist in Athens, led a U.S. sweep of the top two places in the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley before capping an excellent night by swimming the anchor leg for the triumphant 4x200 freestyle relay team.

It was a spectacular and gutsy performance by the 21-year-old American, who was nearly forced out of competition when she was struck in the face by a kickboard during morning training.

"I had a slight accident this morning and for a while didn't think I would swim," said Sandeno. "I'm excited I did so well because I'm not in very good shape.

"Michael has nothing on me but he still has quite an agenda himself. I just wanted to pack mine into one day."