EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — Four-time Olympic champion Yana Klochkova failed to qualify today for the final of the women's 400-meter individual medley on the opening day of the European swimming championships.

The 25-year-old Ukrainian, who won the 200 and 400 individual medley at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics, finished her heat in 4 minutes, 50.36 seconds — 17 seconds slower than her own European record and 12th overall.

Klochkova took a break from training after Athens and is working her way back to full fitness for the Beijing Olympics.

Yana Martynova of Russia qualified fastest for the final with a time of 4:40.47. Alessia Filippi of Italy was second in 4:42.80 and Katinka Hosszu of Hungary was third in 4:42.86 at the National Swimming Center, where many top swimmers are treating the meet as a preparation for the Beijing Olympics.

Pawel Korzeniowski qualified fastest for the final of the men's 400-meter freestyle final with 3:47.70, more than a second faster than defending champion Yury Prilukov of Russia. Dragos Coman of Romania was third fastest in 3:49.02.

In the women's 50-meter butterfly heats, Inge Dekker led a 1-2-3 finish for the Netherlands with her time of 25.89. She was followed by Chantal Groot in 26.39 and Hinkelien Schreuder in 26.59.