karoline sinnhuber has done her fifth and sixth 8B, Ray of Light and Ubuntu (personal 8A+ grade) in Rocklands. (c) Zeno In the 8a ranking game, Karo is #4 but without personal grades, she would have been #3. How can you explain being in your best shape in life? I am happy about my shape cause I trained really a lot for the trip so I am glad it paid off. I had a long ticklist with hard boulders and I knew I can‘t do all of them. The first 2 weeks I did not send anything which was bad for my ego and motivation. Aa soon as I sent my first boulder the send train started!

Vadim Timonov and Irina Kuzmenko have finished their trip to Rocklands in great style. Irina did Tail of The Caracal 8A+ and Vadim did Noise vs beauty 8C as well as The Book Club 8B+, pictured by Nikita Tsarev Vadim is #7 in the ranking game and Irina is #10. Now they are back in Russia for a three weeks preparation for the World Championship in Tokyo.

BIG NEWS! The new, upgraded app will be released next week! Over the past months, our team has worked on an enhanced navigation and menu structure, advanced filtering options, and a new training feature. More details coming soon. Stay Tuned!

karoline sinnhuber, who previoulsy has done four 8B's, has done two 8A+' in Rocklands; Black shadow and The wee baby shamus which she thinks is 8A. In the 8a ranking game, the Austrian former competition boulderer is #4. (c) Fabian Leu

Chaehyeon Seo (15) from Korea did her first ever World Cup two weeks ago and got a sensational silver. Then she won in Chamonix and now also in Briancon. Janja Garnbret did also top the final but lost due to count back. Natsuki Taniii (16) got the bronze. Interestingly, Janja borned 1999, was the oldest finalist. Among the male, although Japan did not send their best crew got all three medals. Hidemasa Nishida (16), youth world champion last year, did his first WC in 2019 won after having been #8 in the semi. Also the runner ups, Hiroto Shimizu and Shuto Tanaka had not participated in the two first WCs in 2019. (C) Eddie Fowke Interesting is that Japan who has dominated the boulder scene for many years now also is #1 in Lead ahead of Slovenia. Complete results

Chaehyeon Seo, #3 in the 8a ranking game including Bad Girls Club 9a (8c+) which she did at age 14, is the big sensation in the Lead WC 2019. In her first ever WC she was #2 in both the semi and in the final and in Chamonix she was #1 in both the semi and the final, being 15 years old. Her father Jungkuk is running a gym and her mother is a former World Cup climber. Anyhow, comps is only part of her climbing life and she has already been on five long overseas climbing trips. "She won every lead comp in Korea! Only one time second place at combined comp next Jain Kim." Could you please explain how she trains? As usual, I trained my training program and created a new project route. Most of the project routes were routes with a level of difficulty of 8b. We focused on training finger strength, power and balance of muscles. I made new climbing problem every training day a little bit harder and harder. Generally she trains 4~5 times a week some four hours. 1st day= on sight climbing or project climbing. 2nd day = endurance climbing (60~70moves * 7~9set). Sometimes we have to go to Japan for bouldering."

Chaehyon Seo and Natsuki Tanii topped both qualification routes and Janja Garnbret was #3 in the qualifications in Briancon. All six Slovenians female in Top-18! Among the male, Stefano Ghislofi won ahead of Alex Megos and Hannes Puman. Complete results. The semi starts 19.30.

The male semifinal turned out to have had probably the most sensational results ever in a Lead World Cup. Hidemasa Hida was #8 when the five best from the qualification remained but then four of them scored ten to 20 moves lower and Romain Desgranges was one + short to drop him out of the final. It was like humidity hit the wall but that was not the case as all the last female made it through. Chaehyon Seo (15) was last out and topped out easily. She just made her World Cup debut two weeks ago and was #2 in Villars and #1 in Chamonix. Complete results. In the end, Sean Bailey and Hiroto Shimizu are tied #1 into the final among the male.