I don’t have all the official translated results from Day 1 of the Japanese NHK Meet, also being called their “World Trials,” but I did come across a couple of news clips with some footage from the first day of competition.

 

2011 NHK Japanese World Trials News Clips

 

It does appear that Kohei Uchimura is leading the men’s competition with a 92.25 (14.1 for that high bar routine), and Koko Tsurumi is leading the women’s competition with a 55.55.  It is somewhat surprising to see Kohei faceplant his Kolman like that, but all of his other scores were above 15, with his highest being a 16.65 for that stuck front handspring randi on vault.  Although I can’t yet tell which gymnast is in second, the next highest all-aorund total was 90.5.  It doesn’t look like he should have any trouble dominating yet another competition in preparation for the world championships in his home country later this year.

 

Koko Tsurumi, the 2009 world all-around bronze medalist, has unfortunately never regained competitive consistency since her shining moment in London nearly two years ago.  She does appear to be in excellent shape, and she did have some very impressive routines here and there at the recent Japanese Nationals in May.  Her 55.55 is not what she’s fully capable of, but still an indicator that she may be on her way back to top form.  Her scores ranged from 13.0 on floor to 14.6 on bars.  Rie Tanaka was second with a 54.65, with scores ranging from 13.2 on floor to 14.3 for that very clean Yurchenko 1 ½ shown in the video.

 

You’d have to think both the men’s and women’s teams are getting quite excited to host the world championships in just a few months.  The Japanese men will be looking to overtake the unstoppable Chinese men, who have won the last four world team titles and most recent Olympic team title.  The Japanese women, who finished 5th at last year’s world championships, will be looking to sneak into medal contention along with the U.S., Russia, Romania, and China, perhaps with a little boost from an energetic home crowd in Tokyo.

 

I’ll give more updates on the competition as I get them!