PARIS - Olympic and world champion Laure Manaudou struggled to earn an Olympic berth in the 400 metres freestyle at the French swimming championships on Monday.

Manaudou finished third in the final, suffering her first defeat in the discipline at a major championships since June 2004.

Her time of 4:06.57 was far outside the world record of 4:02.13 she set on August6 2006 and held until last month when Federica Pellegrini of Italy clocked 4:01.53 at the European championships in Eindhoven.

Camelia Potec of Romania won the race in 4:06.08. Coralie Balmy of France was second in 4:06.41 and also booked an Olympic ticket.