Triple world champion Hannah Stockbauer of Germany suffered a surprising elimination from the women's 400m freestyle final in the Olympic swimming pool Sunday in Athens.

In the morning session, 400m, 800m and 1,500m free world champion Stockbauer trailed fourth in the 5th heat in four minutes 10.46 seconds.

The 22-year-old German finished 12th overall, more than a second outside the time of slowest qualifier Sachiko Yamada of Japan while 17-year-old Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou posted the fastest qualifying time for the evening's final in 4:06.76.

"4:10.00 is not too bad for me, but I can't explain what happened," said the 2003 Swimmer of the Year named by Swimming World magazine.

"The time was actually not so bad but the others were faster. I didn't think the others would be so fast," said a tearful Stockbauer.

Source: Xinhua