The last trial to determine the Japanese team for the 2007 Quebec City World Championships took place at the Sunflower (Himawari) dome in Kutamori, just South of Osaka, on July 15, 2007.  As earlier reported, the Japanese Trampoline Association has to put a bid to host a World Cup in 2008 in this arena located near Osaka.

10 men and 8 women competed.  Some of the most prominent Japanese trampolinists did not compete at the trial held in Kutamori as they were already selected.  These athletes included 2006 World Cup Final winner and 2005 World silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama and 2005 World bronze medalist and 2006 World Cup Final bronze medalist Tetsuya Sotomura in the men's, as well as Hiromi Hanmoto in the women's.  2007 Lake Placid and Kunshan World Cup medalist Shunsuke Nagasaki was pre-selected, but needed to compete at the Sunflower dome in order to secure his selection.  In 2007, Ueyama won a silver medal at the Ostend World Cup and a bronze medal at the Quebec City World Cup, whereas Sotomura won the silver medal at the Sofia World Cup.  Together, they won three gold medals and a silver medal in synchronized trampoline this year.     

The athletes had to compete two optionals in the trial.   The higher scoring optional for each athlete was used for purposes of ranking the trampolinists.  

In the men's, Shunsuke Nagasaki won the trial with 40.40 pts.  Nagasaki had obtained the third best score of the first optionals with 39.50 pts (15.50 pt tariff), but stepped up his tariff for the second routine to 15.70 pts.  Nagasaki's routine was performed with sharpness and power.  The second place of the trial went to 2007 Ostend World Cup bronze medalist Masaki Ito (pictured on the right), who displayed his talent all year round on the World Cup circuit.  Ito locked the last spot on the team with his first optional that obtained 39.90 pts (15.30 pt tariff), which proved to be the best first optional of the competition. 

The first unlucky trampolinist was Manabu Yamaguchi, who performed the second best first optional (39.60 pts), before performing the second best second optional (39.70 pts).  Yamaguchi came in 3rd place of this trial, and will travel to Canada only to compete in synchronized trampoline, paired with teammate Masaki Ito.  Takashi Sakamoto performed the most difficult routine for him this year (16.00 pts), but ended up missing the qualification for few tenths (39.20 pts).  Japanese international Masaki Hitomi, who was a starter on the team in 2006 where he reached the final of a couple of World Cups, also stepped up his difficulty to 16.00 pts, but a little traveling prevented him from obtaining more than 38.90 pts, which was good for the 5th place. 

Veteran Daisuke Nakata, who was on the team at the 2005 Worlds and was the leader of the Japanese team for a decade, took the 6th place thanks to a solid second optional that obtained 38.20 pts (15.00 pt tariff), barely edging 2003 Levallois World Cup medalist Takayuki Kawanishi (38.20 pts) due to higher execution marks.  Keita Sugai, Kazuma Takahashi, and Takeshi Imai took the last three spots of the trial.

In the women's, 6-time Japanese Champion Haruka Hirota (pictured on the left) unsurprisingly took the first place of this trial thanks to superior execution and difficulty.  Hirota obtained 35.90 pts for her second optional (11.40 pt tariff), finishing with a 1.70 pt margin over her rivals.  Kazuyo Minato came in 2nd with 34.20 pts (10.00 pts), whereas Mina Terada (33.90 pts with an 11.00 pt tariff) managed to edge Yoko Seto only under the tie-breaking rules as Seto obtained the exact same total as Terada, but with execution marks that were 0.10 pts lower than Terada's.   Natsumi Yamashita (33.70 pts), Naoko Nishida (33.50 pts), and Mika Futagi (33.10 pts) also missed the qualification for a few tenths.  Hiroi Tokuma struggled and took the last spot of the trial with 32.70 pts.      

As a result of this last trial, the Japanese team will line up the following trampolinists in individual at the Quebec City World Championships this late October-early November: Yasuhiro Ueyama, Tetsuya Sotomura, Shunsuke Nagasaki, and Masaki Ito in the men's, and Hiromi Hanmoto, Haruka Hirota, Kazuyo Minato, and Mina Terada in the women's.  In synchronized trampoline, the following pairs will compete in Canada: Yasuhiro Ueyama-Tetsuya Sotomura, and Manabu Yamaguchi-Masaki Ito in the men's, as well as 2005 Sofia World Cup winners Hiromi Hanmoto-Yoko Seto, and Kazuyo Minato-Mina Terada in the women's.

Any of the four men could very well win a medal in individual in Quebec City, with Ueyama and Sotomura counting among the frontrunners to win the gold medal.  In synchronized trampoline, Ueyama-Sotomura will likely be the favorites.  The men's team will likely be the favorite to win the gold medal, along with China.  In the women's, Hanmoto-Seto will probably have an outside shot at a medal. 

Summary Results:

Men
1. Shunsuke Nagasaki   39.50 (15.50)  40.40 (15.70) = 40.40
2. Masaki Ito               39.90 (15.30)  39.40 (15.30) = 39.90
3. Manabu Yamaguchi   39.60 (15.10)  39.70 (15.10) = 39.70
4. Takashi Sakamoto    38.80 (16.00)  39.20 (16.00) = 39.20
5. Masaki Hitomi          38.90 (16.00)  38.50 (16.00) = 38.90
6. Daisuke Nakata        37.70 (15.10)  38.20 (15.00) = 38.20
7. Takayuki Kawanishi   38.00 (15.10)  38.20 (15.10) = 38.20
8. Keita Sugai             34.70 (13.70)  37.10 (14.50) = 37.10
9. Kazuma Takahashi    36.30 (14.60)  36.50 (14.60) = 36.50
10. Takeshi Imai          12.60 (06.00)  05.10 (03.10) = 12.60

Women
1. Haruka Hirota           34.70 (11.40)  35.90 (11.40) = 35.90
2. Kazuyo Minato          33.70 (10.00)  34.20 (10.00) = 34.20
3. Mina Terada             32.20 (11.00)  33.90 (11.00) = 33.90
4. Yoko Seto               33.90 (11.10)  33.80 (11.10) = 33.90
5. Natsumi Yamashita    33.70 (10.30)  33.10 (10.30) = 33.70
6. Naoko Nishida           31.10 (09.80)  33.50 (10.50) = 33.50
7. Mika Futagi              33.10 (10.30)  00.00 (00.00) = 33.10
8. Hiroi Tokuma            32.70 (11.40)  15.00 (06.30) = 32.70

Link to the detailed results of the trial