Kosuke Kitajima, Olympic champion over 100 and 200m breaststroke in Athens, will miss the Japanese short-course championships next week because of an injury to his elbow.

The swimmer sustained a knock to his right elbow last month and is well on the way to recovery. However the short-course event falls too soon for comfort: February 25 to 26 at Tokyo's Tatsumi International Swimming Center.

Kitajima's absence from the short-course event will deprive Frenchman Hugues Duboscq of a chance to race one of his great rivals. The French champion took up a Japanese invitation and has been training with Kitajima at the Institute of Sport in Tokyo for much of February. The institute has an array of enviable facilities.

"I could actually compete if I wanted to but it is not the main event for me," Kitajima told the small army of Japanese reporters gathered at a national team training session yesterday. The squad, including Kitajima, will leave for the United States for a one-month training camp starting on March 1.

Kitajima's focus is now on the more important long-course season: "I have to focus my efforts on posting good times at the national (l/c) championships and qualifying for the world championships (Melbourne 2007)," he said. The Japan Open takes place from April 20-23.