Daniel Martian, who started climbing in 1988 and did his first 8b+ in 2003, has done his first 8c by the FA of Tour de Lion in Lion's head. "Link-up between Maxi Pista and Lion's Head Express but mega-good!!! Some of the best steep rock and movement at LH. Tentatively rated .14b but it will need to be confirmed. Started to work on it 4 seasons ago but "seriously" committed the last two seasons. Lots and lots of tries until I brought this beautiful stone down to my level."

IFSC is ready for the Paris World Championship that starts on Wednesday. Interviews with McColl, Durif and more have been published on the FB page. Here we present Ondra's answers, who became the World Champion in both Lead and Boulder in 2014. Picture showing the winning moment. 1. What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming IFSC World Championships? I am most looking forward to the atmosphere in Paris. Comps should be done for the audience, and it's always the best feeling to climb in front of many spectators and know they are psyched. 2. How have you prepared for this event? Are you ready?! I have been climbing mostly outdoors this year, but in the last three weeks I made my training more plastic-oriented, so hopefully I will be ready in Paris to give a good fight! 3. Which Athletes do you think will be your biggest competition? Tomoa Narasaki in Bouldering; Domen Skofic, Romain Desgranges, Gautier Supper, Ramon Julian Puigblanque and Jakob Schubert in Lead. 4. What would be a successful week for you? Giving it all I have without making mistakes. 5. Why should people attend the IFSC World Championships in Paris? It is the best possible show of our sport! Best Athletes, best walls and routes, in the best location possible.

Well over 1 500 Left > Right Topos have been created and are available to download in our 8A app. This will help you to find and climb the best routes at a crag. Here you can try it out. Normally it just takes 10 minutes to sort the names from the tick list from left to right and you'd help the whole community if you decided to do it for the crags you know. Thanks in advance :)

Hipnofotofilia 8b+ from Karma Production on Vimeo.

Ramon Julian has spent the last weekend before the World Championship on doing the FA of Las tres dures 9a in Sadernes and Maya 9a+ in Margalef. The latter, bolted by Vicent Palau, hangs over 45 degrees for almost 40 metres with mainly small pockets and small edges. Ramonet got his first out of three Euro Champion titles in 2004 and the last in 2015. In the meantime, he won the World Championship 2007 and 2011 and he has said he was going for it again. The first time the Spaniard did a 9a was in 2002, and in 2003 he did La Rambla. It is a fact that for the last 15 years he has been the #1 sport climber in the world. (M. Alba)

Marcin Dzieński, 166 cm tall and weighing 65 kg, has won the last three Speed World Cups, often sharing the podium with 190 cm guys. Check him running up the 15 meter wall in less than six seconds. Please explain how much and how you have trained to be #1 in the world. Oh, no! You want to know my top secret and make it public ;) It depends on the time of the year. In winter I have training almost every day, then in season “only” four days in week... but as a pro, I am working on my shape 24/7/365 – it means that recovery, diet, mental training are an integral and permanent part of my training regime. Even if I want to socialize with friends – it goes aside from the plan ;) In season, main training sessions take around 3-4 hours per day, then one day rest. My training is mostly running on the wall and some special exercise for strength and power. Almost the same like for other kind of climbing (eg. campus, pull-up bar etc.). Of course I can’t forget about legs, which are trained on the gym or track for plyometric routine. What is your level in Lead and Bouldering now? Do you plan to go all in for the Combined format? Honestly, I don’t have enough time for training lead and bouldering, because am still studying full time physical education at the university. Fortunately, it’s my last year and will have more spare time. I used to start in all kind of climbing comps when I was youth - and even taken silver in junior category on boulder National Champ. Few times in year I go bouldering for fun and able to repead some 7B/C quite quickly... Do you like the Combined Olympic format or could it be improved? They should do 3 disciplines in Tokyo 2020 as in the world championship. Combined will destroy our work so far. But you have to know that we have to be happy that we are in.

There are 536 athletes registered in the three categories in the World Championship in Paris which is some 20% more compared to 2012. Here is the breakdown for each discipline: Lead: 111 male & 80 female Boulder: 131 male & 98 female Speed: 69 male & 47 female Looking at the combined part, you can see that it is also some 20% more but actually less top climbers in comparison to 2012. Combined: 25 male & 15 female Single discipline: 175 male and 135 female Two disciplines: 32 male and 21 female