EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — The Netherlands set a world record in the women's 400-meter freestyle relay at the European swimming championships today with a time of 3 minutes, 33.62 seconds.

The Dutch team of Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhuis led throughout in front of a raucous home crowd, easily beating the old mark of 3:35.22 set two years ago by Germany. Italy was second in 3:41.06, and Sweden was third in 3:41.28.

Dekker led off and was already 1 second inside the world record time after her leg, then 17-year-old Kromowidjojo took over and kept up the pace. Heemskerk faded slightly, turning it over to Veldhuis just .06 seconds inside record pace.

But Veldhuis pulled away again as the crowd roared her home at the first European swimming championships to be held in the Netherlands since 1966.

"Since we already set a world record in this event on short course, we now also wanted to do the same on long course," Veldhuis said. "But we weren't sure whether we could achieve that feat. We never reckoned with such a clear improvement. All four of us swam fantastic."

In the evening's final race, Sweden won the men's 400 freestyle relay in 3:15.41 ahead of Italy. The Netherlands, with two-time Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband swimming the final leg, was third.

Yury Prilukov of Russia defended his European 400-meter freestyle title, charging past Massimiliano Rosolino in the final lap to finish in 3:45.10, a new championship record.

Rosolino, who won silver over the distance at the Sydney Olympics, led for most of the race but the 29-year-old Italian faded to second in 3:45.19 as Prilukov powered to a 26.77-second final lap. Nikita Lobintsev of Russia was third in 3:46.75.

Alessia Filippi of Italy retained her European 400 individual medley title in 4:36.68.

Yana Martynova of Russia led early and was 2.5 seconds inside world record pace halfway through before Filippi overtook her on the second half and pulled away on the final freestyle leg.

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary also overtook the Russian to claim silver in 4:37.43 and Martynova was third in 4:37.86.

Four-time Olympic champion Yana Klochkova failed to qualify for the final.

The 25-year-old Ukrainian, who won the 200 and 400 individual medley at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics, finished her morning 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 the Beijing Games.