Michael Phelps powers to 19th gold medal in team relay

  • 08/08/2016
Michael Phelps (Getty Images)
Michael Phelps (Getty Images)

American superstar Michael Phelps has won his 19th Olympic gold medal after helping his team win the 4x100 freestyle relay.

In his Rio Olympic debut, Phelps swam a key second leg as his split helped USA back in front of France, who had to settle for the silver medal. Australia rounded out the podium with the bronze medal.

The 31-year-old has now won 23 career medals, totalling 19 gold medals, two silvers and two bronzes.

Phelps retired after the 2012 Games, but decided to return after watching a disappointing show from the American men at the 2013 world championships, when they lost to France.

The team relay was one of the hotly anticipated events of the second day of competition, with USA, France, Australia and Russia all having claims for a gold medal. 

Earlier, fellow American swimmer Katie Ledecky smashed the women's 400m freestyle world record on her way to gold.

Ledecky recorded a time of 3:56.46 as she finished 4.77 seconds clear of Jazz Carlin in second place.

The 19-year-old had already set an Olympic record in the preliminaries, and picked up her second medal after grabbing silver in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle.

Newshub.