The gold was Phelps’s 23rd medal: 19 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes. The final time was 3:09.92.

Phelps, who wasn’t added to the relay team until race day, swam the second leg for the Americans, taking over from Caeleb Dressel in second place behind France and swimming into the lead. His split time was 47.12, which his coach Bob Bowman said was one of his all-time fastest. He took the lead from his French counterpart Fabien Gilot after a turn that Bowman described as “probably the best turn that might have ever been done.”