EUGENE, Ore. — Michael Tinsley (Pulaski Robinson) won the 400-meter hurdles on Sunday at the U.S. Track Trials in 48.33 seconds to earn a spot on the Olympic team.

Angelo Taylor was second in 48.57 for a chance to defend his Olympic gold medal at the London Games. Defending silver medalist Kerron Clement was third in 48.89 for the final spot on the U.S. team.

Bershawn Jackson, the defending bronze medalist, lunged at the finish in an attempt to catch Clement but finished fourth at Hayward Field.

Tinsley, 28, will run in his first Olympics.

“I worked so hard,” Tinsley told NBC Sports. “These guys are the best in the world. I’m just happy I could come out with the win.”

London will be Taylor’s fourth Olympics.

“Not many people make it to their fourth Olympic team, so this is something that I really wanted to do,” Taylor said. “I knew the competition I was facing. My main goal was just to stay healthy, and goal No. 2 was just to make the team.”

Tinsley, 6-0, 180 pounds, qualified for the final with a time of 49.05 in a semifinal heat on Friday.

At Jackson State, Tinsley won the school’s first track and field individual national championship in the 400-meter hurdles in 2006 with a time of 48.25 before turning professional. He finished third in the hurdles in the 2005 NCAA championships.

Jackson State was the only school to offer Tinsley a full scholarship. Arkansas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Arkansas State and UALR also had interest in Tinsley.

Tinsley was third in the 2010 USA Outdoor Championships with a time of 48.46. He finished 2010 ranked sixth by Track and Field News. His personal best time in the 400-meter hurdles was 48.02 in the 2007 USA Outdoor Championships.

As a junior at Robinson in 2002, Tinsley was first in the 300-meter hurdles at the Meet of Champions with a time of 37.46 seconds and second in the 110 hurdles in 14.48.

Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press.

SWIMMING

Phelps, Franklin win

OMAHA, Neb. - Michael Phelps has earned a chance to swim eight Olympic races, rallying to win the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. trials.

Phelps was slow off the blocks and made the turn in sixth place Sunday night. But he caught Tyler McGill on the return lap and surged to the wall to win in 51.14 seconds, well off his world-record pace (49.82), but fastest in the world this year.

“That was a pretty crappy first 50 and a pretty terrible finish,” Phelps said. “I should have taken another stroke. It felt OK. It didn’t feel great, didn’t feel terrible.”

McGill hung on for the second Olympic spot in 51.32. Ryan Lochte, swimming an event he normally doesn’t in major competitions, was third, 33-hundreths behind McGill.

Phelps, who set an Olympic record with eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, is expected to swim the same eight events in London.

For the women, Missy Franklin secured the chance to become the first American female to swim seven events at the Olympics.

Franklin, 17, locked up her fourth individual event with a dominating victory in the 200-meter backstroke. She touched in 2 minutes, 06.12 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year and nearly 1 1/2 seconds ahead of runner-up Elizabeth Beisel, who secured the second spot in London at 2:07.58.

Franklin had already earned spots in the 100 and 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. She’s also assured of swimming on all three relays.

“I can’t believe I have seven events,” she said. “It’s so overwhelming but so exciting. The whole week went really, really well.”

The 200 back is Franklin’s best event. She’s the defending world champion and heads to London as the overwhelming favorite in that race.

GYMNASTICS Horton makes Olympics

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jonathan Horton is heading back to the Olympics with a bunch of rookies in tow.

The two-time Beijing medalist in 2008 was picked for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team for the London Games, joined by Jake Dalton and Sam Mikulak. Danell Leyva and reigning national champion John Orozco automatically qualified for the five-man squad after the conclusion of Olympic trials Saturday night.

Chris Brooks, Steven Legendre and Alex Naddour are the alternates.

Horton, 26, helped the U.S. win a team bronze in Beijing four years ago, then added a silver medal on high bar.

Eye on Arkansans SWIMMING TRIALS

How swimmers with Arkansas ties are doing at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Neb.: SUSANNA WHITE ARKANSAS Finished the 50-meter freestyle in 26.79 seconds. Did not advance.

TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS

How athletes with Arkansas ties are doing at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.: Men MICHAEL TINSLEY (PULASKI ROBINSON) Won the 400-meter hurdles finals in 48.33 seconds. Advances to London Olympics.

WALLACE SPEARMON (ARKANSAS/FAYETTEVILLE) Won the 200-meter finals in 19.82 seconds. Advances to London Olympics.

Women FUNMI JIMOH (FAYETTEVILLE) Finished 7th in the women’s long jump finals with a leap of 21 feet, 10 3/4 inches. Did not advance.

At a glance

U.S. Olympic qualifiers in the men’s 400-meter hurdles in Sunday’s final in Eugene, Ore.: 1. Michael Tinsley 48.33 2. Angelo Taylor 48.57 3. Kerron Clement 48.99

Sports, Pages 15 on 07/02/2012