Michael Phelps has earned a chance to swim eight Olympic races, rallying to win the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. Swim Trials Sunday night at CenturyLink Center Omaha.
Phelps was slow off the blocks and made the turn in sixth place, 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.
McGill hung on for the second Olympic spot in 51.32. Ryan Lochte, swimming an event he normally doesn't in major competitions, just missed adding another race to his already busy program. He 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.
Anthony Ervin has capped an improbable comeback by earning a trip to the Olympics. Ervin, who won gold in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2000 Sydney Games, finished second behind Cullen Jones in that event, good enough for a spot in London.
The 31-year-old Ervin was one of the sport's rising stars when he stunning walked away in 2003, burned out on swimming and yearning to find a deeper meaning to life. He even auctioned off his gold medal to aid tsunami victims.
But Ervin returned to competition last year and quickly got back up to speed. Jones touched first in 21.59 seconds, but Ervin got there next (21.60).
Missy Franklin will become the first American female to swim seven events at the Olympics. The 17-year-old locked up her fourth individual event with a dominating win 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.
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.
Four years ago, Katie Ledecky had no clue about how to qualify for the Olympics. Now the 15-year-old distance swimmer is headed to London. Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle by a whopping 2.09 seconds, making her the youngest member of the U.S. swim team.
She touched in 8 minutes, 19.78 seconds with Kate Ziegler taking the second spot at 8:21.87 to earn her second Olympic berth. Ledecky broke the trials record of 8:20.81 set by Katie Hoff four years ago. "I had a lot of confidence going into that race," Ledecky said.
Jessica Hardy is the leading qualifier in the 50-meter freestyle while Dara Torres qualified fifth-fastest in her bid to make a sixth Olympic team at age 45. Hardy won the last of 16 heats in 24.55 seconds in the morning preliminaries swimming next to Torres, who touched second at 25.00.
Hardy was the surprise winner of the 100 free on Saturday night after failing to make the team in her 100 breaststroke specialty. Torres is competing in just one event after winning three silver medals four years ago in Beijing. She would be the first American to swim in six Olympics if she finishes in the top two of Monday's final.
Christine Magnuson qualified second for the evening semifinals at 24.75.
