Double Olympic champion Yana Klochkova failed to make the final of the women's 400m individual medley at the European Swimming Championships yesterday.

The 25-year-old Ukrainian, returning to competition after missing last year's World Championships, trailed home fourth in her heat. She was more than seven seconds behind Hungary's Katinka Hosszu, and 12th overall, nearly 10 seconds adrift of fastest final qualifier Yana Martynova of Russia.

Klochkova won the 200 and 400 individual medley at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

Second after the opening butterfly leg of yesterday's 400 individual medley heat, she dropped to third in the backstroke and fourth in the breaststroke, clocking four minutes 50.36 seconds. It was way outside the 4:33.59 world mark she set at the 2000 Olympics, which is still the European record, though American world champion Katie Hoff has lowered the world record to 4:32.89.

Martynova led qualifiers for the evening's final in 4:40.47, followed by defending champion Alessia Filippi of Italy (4:42.80) and Hosszu (4:42.86).

Russia's Yuri Prilukov won his heat and set the second-fastest overall qualifying time for the defense of his 400m freestyle title, the evening's other individual final on the opening day of the main pool swimming at the championships.

Prilukov, who also won the 1500 freestyle in 2006, clocked 3:48.81. Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski, the reigning European 200 butterfly champion, was the fastest qualifier in 3:47.70.

Helge Meeuw, one of only nine swimmers in a heavily depleted German squad, pulled out of the men's 100m backstroke heats. Meeuw, who has been suffering from sinusitis, won the 50 backstroke in 2006 but it is doubtful that he will be able to begin the defense of his title on Thursday.

(Agencies via China Daily March 19, 2008)