TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's double Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima shattered the world 200-metre breaststroke record here Sunday, wearing Speedo's blockbuster LZR Racer swimsuit on a trial basis.

The 25-year-old Japanese clocked 2min 07.51, 0.99 faster than his archrival American Brendan Hansen's two-year-old world mark, at a domestic competition that was a warm-up for Japanese swimmers ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Kitajima, who has a contract to wear the products of Japanese maker Mizuno, was wearing the high-tech British swimwear for the first time in competition throughout the three-day Japan Open contest, which ended Sunday.

Kitajima punched the air from the pool after breaking the record.

"I feel like crying," he said. "I owe the world record to my ability, while the swimsuit also played a good role."

"I was confident of setting a record before racing today."

Japanese Olympic swimmers are obliged to wear products supplied by one of three Japanese firms -- Mizuno, Asics and Descente -- contracted with the Japan Swimming Federation.

"I thank the Japanese swimwear maker and the swimming federation for giving me an opportunity to test the Speedo swimsuit," said Kitajima, who last set a world record at the 2003 world championships in Spain in the 200-metre event.

The Japanese federation will decide on Tuesday whether to allow its Olympics-bound swimmers to compete in the swimsuits of their choice, including Speedo, in Beijing.

Kitajima had already smashed his own 50-metre and 100-metre national records at the same event wearing the swimsuit. Swimmers wearing the Speedo have also posted a dozen national records at the competition.

But Kitajima had been frustrated about the overblown publicity given to the Speedo, which has also helped swimmers to claim 18 of the 19 new world long-course records since the swimsuit debuted in February.

At the competition, he was seen wearing a T-shirt outside the pool with emblazoned letters reading "I am the swimmer," in English, Japanese and Chinese.

It was not immediately clear if Kitajima would insist on wearing the Speedo at the Olympics.

"I will forget about the world record for now ahead of the Olympics and will go out fighting as if I am a challenger," Kitajima said. "For the Olympics, I only have the gold medals on my mind. I won't come home if I don't get them."

Hansen, who also holds the two-year-old 100m world record of 59.13, has tested the LZR Racer himself under permission from his sponsor, US sportswear giant Nike.