Michael Phelps was back in familiar waters and on top of the winners’ podium in his comeback to competitive swimming at the US Grand Prix in Charlotte on Friday.

Competing for just the second time since retiring after the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps ticked off all the boxes he needed to.

In the morning heats, he tested his stamina by entering two lung-sapping events – the 200 metres freestyle and 100m butterfly – then in the evening finals, he tested his speed by winning the 100m fly final.

He also qualified for the 200m freestyle final but scratched from the race after achieving his goal in the heats – qualifying for this year’s US national championships, which double as the selection event for next year’s world titles in Russia.

His time in the 200m free was one minute 51.69 seconds, way below his best, but 0.2 seconds inside the US qualifying time.

Both Phelps and his long-time coach Bob Bowman have been coy about their future plans but Bowman was pleased by what he saw.

“I thought Michael’s 200 free was actually good for the first one in a couple of years,” he said. “Now we have a real picture of where he is at.”

Phelps is unlikely to swim the more gruelling 200m free in individual events but he needs to enter it at the national titles if he wants a place on the 4x200m relay team.

“I thought technically he was pretty good,” said Bowman.

“He was much better than he’s been in training so far so he’s definitely improving in that stroke and I think as he goes along that will get a lot better.”