Viktoriia Meshkova got her second gold by winning Lead ahead of Eliska Adamovska, being the faster climber touching the final jug. Both had previously topped all three routes. Amazingly, Viktoriia did 18 IFSC World Cups last year and her best result was #16! Molly Thompson-Smith got the bronze. It should be mentioned that Chloe Caulier, who was second in Boulder, topped both qually routes but did not show up for the semi. Most probably she retired due to saving her skin and muscles from the Combined Olympic quest starting on Friday. (c) Nikita Tsarev

Among the male, Sacha Lehmann got the Euro title seeming quite in control the whole way. Runner-up was Nicolas Collins who put up the biggest fighting show in the final. First, he chose to land with just one hand on the big sideways double dyno. Later he started to fight harder than the others and in the end, he was screaming like Adam Ondra for several moves. Noteworthy is that the Belgian is the only male athlete who has participated in all three finals and he showed his fingers for the camera and it will be interesting to see if he can get the skin back until Friday. Third was Dmitrii Fakirianov.

It must be said that overall it was a good show and on the live-screaming, we could follow the results in a bar hold by hold. Overall, the route setters and the organizers have done a great job in Moscow.

Katie Lamb has done Abaddon 8A+ in Black Velvet and she is #5 in the 8a ranking game.

"Abaddon is my second of the Black Velvet trifecta and a friendly neighbour to my favourite highball, Natasha’s Ball. After doing my usual fifteen lap warmup on Natasha’s Ball (with a sun salutation on the summit each time) I was ready for my project. Abaddon sits right above a Pit of Mordor and I had to be careful not to take the rip of life into the Pit. Luckily two friendly trad climbers passed by and agreed to lie like logs in the Pit, acting like extra pads and being the perfect spotters during the send. With my heart and mind clear, the send felt bang bang!"

Nicolas Milburn, who previously has done two 9a's, has done his second 8C, Southern drawl in Chattanooga. "Definitely my hardest boulder to date! I put about 25 days of work into this thing, but despite all the sessions, it does just feel like another boulder. It's odd to put so much of my soul into a piece of rock in the forest, but I take pleasure from this kind of pursuit. It has been really exciting to mark my progress on this specific boulder. I have been feeling really strong lately, but until now I wasn't really sure where I was at. Now I feel confident I have improved as a climber."

Viktoriia Meshkova, 20, who won in Bouldering, topped out the semifinal route with ease. Last year, the Russian did 18 IFSC World Cups and her best result was #16. As she also with 9.68 in Speed were among the best, she is now the big favourite to get the Olympic tickets. Eliska Adamovska did also top the nice route as also Daeia Mezentseva did but she was timed out. Noteworthy is that Chloe Caulier #2 and Alma Bestvater #5 did pull out from the semi probably due to saving the skin for the Combined. Complete results.

Among the male, Sergei Luzhetskii #2 and Aleksei Rubtsov #8 in Bouldering did not participate. Seven male got within one hold close to the top. The final starts at 4 pm Euro time.

Seb Bouin and Lucien Martinez first repeats of Fred Rouhlings Akira from 1995 are all over the media discussing if the first 9b in the world might be just 9a? Naturally, Fred is very surprised about the downgrade as his other two 9a's from the time have just been repeated and confirmed by Bouin. At that time, Rouhling was together with Alex Huber superior in the world and Seb just thinks it is amazing that such routes could have been set up 25 years ago. At that time, crash pads and roof climbs where you could train, both indoor and outdoor, did almost not exist at the time and Fred was by himself pushing the standards. "Fred was ahead of his time and part of the reason for my Vintage trip was to salute him. The difficulty of those routes is amazing! At the same time, I can just say all three routes felt 9a. " Fred is truly happy for the repeats and hopes more will come.

"Seb said that he had a good time in Charente! That’s more important. Climbing is for fun, so have fun and enjoy our climbing life. Repeats are great but don’t forget "to boldly go where no man has gone before!"

Dani Andrada tried the route around 2002 and after three days of effort, he came close and says he at the time speculated if it was 9a or 9a+. At the same time, he today thinks it with kneepads probably would be even easier which goes in line with what Martinez and Bouin think. In any case, it was important for them to do it in the way as Fred did it without kneepads. In any case, besides they and Andrada possibly found better beta, one can speculate if also a broken hold, better shoes with toe-hocking possibilities have had an impact on the grade.

Akira is rather similar to Andrada's Ali Baba hybrid boulder route and he thinks that the reasons for some of his routes being downgraded are that new beta has been found, the use of kneepads and that ladders and fans have facilitated the process of taking them down. Andrada and Rouhling have through their FAs made it to the history books but as it stands they will not be listed to have done 9b.

Laura Rogora is the perfect example showing that climbing is unique when it comes to gender equality. Based on her ten routes 8c+/9a and harder 2020, as well as two 8c+' 2nd, go and 8b+ onsight, she is actually a contender of being #2 in the world, together with Adam Ondra and Stefano Ghisolfi, behind Jorge Diaz-Rullo. We asked Laura for some comments of doing Ghisolfi's The Bow 9a+. (c) Pietro Bagnara

"It took me 6 days and 17 tries in total. On my second day on the route, I was able to climb it with one resting but the boulder is very strange and risky so I needed some time to make it from the ground. On the day before the send I got super close but then my hand slipped just before the end of the harder section. I was bleeding a lot from my fingers so I decided to stop and try again the day after and on Sunday on my first go I climbed to the top on my first try. I was sure to fall on the last boulder on the slab because of the blood on my finger but somehow I could get through the last crux and clip the chain."

Dai Koyamada, who previously has done some 20 FAs 8C and harder, reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Ochimizu in Gero. The 44-year-old did not suggest a grade but says it is among his five top FAs. The 165 cm tall, who was #4 in a WC in 1998, found it five years ago but it seemed to difficult. Nevertheless, he found the missing hold and started projecting it this year.

"I’ve reached an age at which declining performance is a daily concern, but I still made it back to this boulder in time. I named this problem “Ochimizu” (Fountain of Youth), in the reflection of my futile wish to remain young, and count it among the top five of my first ascents."

Hannes Puman and Sascha Lehmann were the only males topping out both qualification routes. Interesting is that the best result among the one making it to the Boulder final yesterday was Nicolas Collins #16. Jernej Kruder was #28 suggesting that the male Olympic qualification is an open affair.

Among the female, both Viktoria Meshkova and Chloe Caulier who were quite superior in the Boulder final, were among the four girls topping out both routes, together with Eliska Adamovska and Daria Mezentseva. Noteworthy is that Petra Klingler, who won the boulder qualification but then retired due to a shoulder injury, did not participate in Lead. This means that the favourite to win the Combined is out from that competition. Complete results

Julia Chanourdie, who just released the video from her recent 9b, reports on Insta that she has done La ligne claire 8c+ in St Légere on her fourth go. (c) Jan Novak

In total, the Olympian has done six routes 8c+/9a and harder, meaning she is #5 in that list.