Marco Zanone has done Adam Ondra's El Potro 9a in Margalef in less than ten tries. The Italian has previously done 14 8c+'s and two 9a's. We asked Marco if he could share his story and how Covid-19 affected the trip.

"At the beginning of February, I planned a ten days trip to Spain with a couple of friends and we knew we had to take all the precautions due to covid restriction. Two days before to leave we took the covid test and once we were sure to be all negative, on the 27th of February we left for Spain. The plan was to climb at the Laboratori sector with the goal to climb First Ley (9a), a route I started trying at the end of December 2019. I felt ready to climb it but for the first time, the conditions were bad. I was trying my best but I was not able to succeed. One day the conditions felt even worse for me, so I decided to try something else. I didn't go too far and I chose to try "El Potro".

Since the first try, I felt good on the moves because the style suited me very well. Big moves and big pinches on a power resistant route. I tried for two other days, on and off with "First Ley", which was still my main project, and I eventually sent it on the last day of the trip. It felt like a soft 9a to me, but I also know that when I climbed Bumaye (8c+) in 2017, I'm quite sure I would not have been able to do the crux boulder of El Potro, so maybe it makes sense to call it 9a. Hopefully, it will get more attention in the near future, the route is rad!"

Featuring Giuliano Cameroni, Daisuke Ichimiya, Clément Lechaptois, Marine Thevenet and Diego Cameroni doing "New King Lines" in Cresciano up to 8C.

Tom Bolger reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Mr Big 9a in Margalef, saying it is "probably the best route I’ve ever bolted." (c) Esteban Lahoz

Please describe the route and why it is so good?
It is an independent route, over 25m long and probably 35 degrees in the steepest section. The route has a great flow! It is very continuous with two distinct jump moves, and with only one rest on the whole route forcing the climber to move efficiently and quickly, so the climbing flows beautifully :)

Earlier this year, Tom has done two 9a/+ FAs also in Margalef where he lives since a couple of years. Previously he has told 8a that the reason for him sending more projects is that due to Covid-19, he has travelled less back to the U.K. where he works with rope access. Currently, he is studying to become a climbing guide in Spain.

The Olympic male Combined qualification is scheduled for August 3rd and the Top-8 final for August 5th. Adam Ondra has had the Olympics as his big goal since 2019, when he for the first time since 2015 completed most of the World Cup. In 2019 and 2020 he won all four Lead WCs he participated in and in Bouldering he was #2 overall in 2019. (c) Lukas Biba

How do you plan to train, travel and compete in the last six months before the Olympics and how does Covid-19 impact your training?
I am mostly just planning to stay at home, training and going for a few World Cups before the Olympics. (if they won't be cancelled). As I am a professional, fortunately, I have access to the gyms, so apart from travel restrictions, I cannot complain.

Have you considered just skipping Speed training due to the multiplication format?
Skipping speed could have been an option for me, but improvement of speed might be beneficial in certain styles of bouldering and that is why I do train speed.

Who do you train together with and what does a training partner mean to you?
Rishat Khaibulin lives in Brno, so we train together quite often and besides, there are a few other climbers from the Czech team that I occasionally train together, mostly bouldering on a spraywall. Still, I do most of my training sessions without a training partner. Proper training partner would be great, not only to boost motivation when you feel tired, but also for learning from each other, most importantly in modern bouldering. Unfortunately, Martin Stranik who would be the perfect training partner lives quite far away and we get to train together rarely.

Who are your three favourites for getting a medal?
Really hard to predict in this format.

The format is based on multiplication of the results in the three disciplines. In other words, even if you get a good result in all disciplines, 4 * 4 * 4 = 64 points, you will probably not get a medal. With the multiplication, it is better to be 1 * 7 * 8 = 56 points. Overall, out of the 8 male finalist, probably at least six of them have good chances of winning one discipline, i.e. getting a medal.

Loic Zehani, who the last year has done five FAs 9a and harder, has done the FA of Les Colos Fachos 8c+/9a in Orgon.
"It is a route of about twenty natural movements bolted by Olivier Bert. There is the first section in approximately 8A boulder followed by another in approximately 7B+ boulder."

What are your next projects?
Currently, I am trying a combination between Sachidananda and Bronx which should be 9a+ or 9b and I fell on the last move last Saturday. In the Calanques at the Grotte de l'Ours, I try Electoman (it's an old big 8c+ by Rémy Bergasse) but a hold has broken in the crux and it should be 9a+ now. And a few other projects all over the place. Otherwise, my big long-term project is located at the Canal in Orgon, it makes 80 movements and will be 9b+.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo reports on Insta that he has done First Ley 9a+ in Margalef after six days of projecting. (c) Eduardo Ruano Li

During the last 12 months, the 21-year-old has done 17 routes 9a to 9b and he is #1 in the 8a ranking game. Overall, he has done 44 routes 8c+/9a and harder, meaning that he is #7 in that all time list. Next up is doing Chris Sharma’s First Round First Minute 9b. Here is a shortinterview from January when he did his fourth 8C boulder.

Hugo Parmentier, who has previously done eight routes 9a to 9b, has done the FA of L'hygiène de l'assassin in Seynes. ©2021 Aurèle Brémond

"After having done "Ça chauffe" 9a I checked out a project wich is the right exit of the classique 8c "La métaphysique des tubes". It's my first experience investing time in a non established route. It took me four days and more tries than "Ça chauffe". But I hesitantly proposed 9a because a friend discovered a providencial thumb on the crux hold. I only used it on the next sending go. Will see what are the next ones thoughts. Even if it's really bouldery the rest of the route is still pretty resistant with perfect classic mouvs."

Fred Rouhling put up Akira as the world's first 9b in 1995. The first repeats were done by Seb Bouin and Lucien Martinez last November, and they considered it to be 9a.

As other hard routes from that time put up by Fred, such as Hugh 9a, have been confirmed, he had a hard time understanding the downgrading. "I don’t know but limestone cracks. Perhaps the holds became bigger. When Yuji Hirayama and Dai Koyamada came to try. They thought there was a very big difference between Akira and Hugh...😭."

Fred considered the starting boulder to be 8B, while the repeaters considered it 7C. It should also be noted that the repeaters respected Fred's style by not using knee pads, while they claimed it could be even easier using them. Last week, Fred reflected about the downgrading on Insta (in french). In general, he thinks grades are so vague that you should not confirm or downgrade. Akira is not 9b or 9a, instead, anyone can suggest a grade.