Freestyle champion Bernard fails to qualify

By Chrystel Boulet-Euchin

DUNKIRK, France (Reuters) - Olympic 100 metres freestyle champion Alain Bernard failed to qualify for this year's London Games after finishing fifth in the French championships on Thursday.

They both qualified for the Olympics with times below the required 48.82 but were much slower than the 47.10 set by world champion James Magnussen last week in the Australian trials.

Agnel, 19, had already booked a place in the 200 metres freestyle on Tuesday when he set a French record and world season's best of 1:44.42.

Clement Lefert surprisingly finished third in the 100 freestyle in 48.64 while Amaury Leveaux was fourth in 48.69 and Gregory Mallet fifth, tied with Bernard.

They will all be part of the six-man Olympic team for the 4x100m relay.

The 28-year-old Bernard clocked 48.97, slower than the time he set in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The Beijing Olympic champion had been banking on his experience to help him qualify after he failed to make the team for the world championships in the 100 metres last year.

But, just as he did in 2011 when he won a silver medal in the 50 metres at the worlds, he will now have to rely on that distance to qualify for an individual race at the Games.

William Meynard, the 2011 world 100 metres bronze medalist, did not even qualify for Thursday's national final.

(Reporting by Chrystel Boulet-Euchin; Writing by Gregory Blachier; Editing by Ken Ferris)