Rio De Janeiro: Michael Phelps won the 19th gold medal of his Olympic swimming career on Sunday after helping the US men's team to victory in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay.

Phelps put the USA in front with a scintillating second leg before Nathan Adrian touched 0.61sec ahead of France, with Australia third.

The 31-year-old, making his first competitive appearance in the pool at his fifth Games after sitting out the heats, now has an unprecedented 23 medals with two silvers and two bronzes filling out his tally.

London 2012 champions France took the silver medal and Australia the bronze.