Although the Olympians Tomoa Narasaki and Kai Harada did not participate in Meiringen, Japan had its entire team of seven finishing in the Top 25. Slovenia did, as Japan, get four into the semi. Adam Ondra won one group with four tops and two tops and five zones got you in the Top-20 semifinal.

The biggest negative surprise was that Jakob Schubert and Jan Hojer were tied at #23. A total of 101 participated, out of which just half made at least one top. The semi starts tomorrow at 10.00 Euro time. Vladek Zumr - (c) Complete results

The organizer's live-streaming from the male qualificalition in Meiringen is up and running, with french/german commentators. You can follow the results on IFSC or via the IFSC App. Based on an 8a poll with 1 200 unique votes, Adam Ondra is the big favourite to win.
39 % Adam Ondra
17 % Jakobb Schubert
15 % Alex Megos
08 % Yushiyuki Ogata
06 % Jernej Kruder
05 % Others (Nikolai Uznik most mentioned)
05 % Kokoro Fuji, 3 % Nathaniel Coleman, 1 % Alexey Rubtsov

The female start their qualification 16.30. Tomorrow the semis starts 11.00 and then the male final 19.15 followed by the female final.

Antoine Girard, who previously has done eighth 8B+', has done his first 8C, Longue promesse in Le Pertuis, video.

"It’s a overhanging wall with slippery edges with a very nice dyno at the end. The hard part is to do the first move of the stand and manage to keep the tension in the heal hook till the last move. The sit start adds a 7C+ to the 8B stand. Nothing really hard but enough to make the upper part much harder. I spend five sessions on the stand start and I spent three sessions more to succeed in the sit start. It’s actually my first 8C. I made the first repetition three months after the FA of Nathan Michel. For the grade I think it’s a real 8C because I spent five sessions more than my other hard 8B+."

Gonzalo Larrocha, who did his first 9a at age 30, has done the FA of PanHaters 9a in Alquezar. In total, the 36-year-old has now done 20 routes 9a and harder. It should be mentioned that some of his 57 recorded 8c+', the first nine years ago, are considered 9a by most. "I started equipping this route before the pandemic. Sometime later I finished it. Thanks to David, Beto, Eugenia and other people who accompanied me. Of the grade, I am very lost. I think it's very tough for 8c+. One good thing for me during the pandemic is that I could bolt at least 12 new routes in Alquezar, between 6c+ to 9a."

So you did your first 7c at age 21 and then have had a rather slow "late bloomer progress" at the same time you have a very wide grade pyramid. How can you explain this and when will you do your first 9b?
I'm motivated with climbing and I'm good at endurance but really bad at powerful moves. I don't think 9b is possible for me. I don't feel that I could progress more. But nevertheless many other times I have been confused😀.