Jana Svecova, who last year did her first two 8B+, has done Kocour v botách, z cíga potáh (8A+) in Hlubočepské plotny, video.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Last weekend, we visited a small crag near Prague. Actually, it is only about 10 minutes away from the center of Prague, and it's really cool to find such good climbing in a city this big. Anyway, we heard that there might be an 8A+ boulder which is going through small crags, so I immediately thought of trying to flash it. On Thursday, we went to check out the holds, and I felt quite confident that I could actually flash it. We returned to the boulder the next morning because of better conditions. I prepared myself and gave it a flash try. Unfortunately, my hand slipped in the last move, and I fell off. Ah, it's such a bad feeling to be so close to flashing an 8A+. In the end, after a couple of tries, I managed to send the boulder. I also discovered another beta and ended up skipping some moves. If I had known this beta before the flash try, I might have been able to flash it because it felt super easy. On Sunday, we went to check out another project in the area that hasn't been climbed yet. I gave it a few tries, and I think it could be an 8B boulder at least, so we definitely want to come back one day. På

Last year, Brixen hosted its first World Cup with only three months of preparation as it was a replacement location for the cancelled Moscow event. It was a great success and very convenient for the athletes competing in Innsbruck the following weekend. In 2023, roughly 200 athletes from 45 countries are scheduled to compete, including all the perennial favorites on the circuit, making it the biggest field of competitors thus far in 2023.

Friday: 9:00 Women's qualification followed by the Men's at 16:00
Saturday: Women's semi at 11:00 and the final at 20.00
Sunday: Men's semi at 11:00 and the final at 20:00

More info

William Bosi made the first repeat of Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams (9A) in April. Here is the progress interview three weeks prior to the send and here Bosi comments his ascent.

There are only two Boulder World Cups remaining for the 2023 season and the Brixen and Innsbruck World Cups will take place the following two weekends. In total, the five best results, out of the total six, will count. Brooke Raboutou, Natalia Grossman and Anon Matsufuji have only participated in three events. However, as Oriane Bertone only took 40 points in one event, the 18-year-old who has been 2 - 1 - 1 in the last three events maintains a strong hold on the top spot. Complete ranking

Michaela Kiersch sent La Rambla (9a+) in January after trying it for only ten sessions. Here is the 8a interview with the Doctor in hand therapy. Overall, her combined ticklist makes her a contender for the best female outdoor climber as of now. At the age of 15, she made her debut in the World Cup and was #22. The next year, she was #18 in a Lead World Cup.

Marine Thevenet did Compass North (8B+) last October, 8a report, and Clément Lechaptois repeated Fuck the system (8C+) in November, 8a report.

Maximilian Dauser has done Nice freshly baked (9a) in Frankenjura. It shares the start and the middle section of Shangrila (8c+) which he did in 2021. (c) Thomas Dauser

"The start of my big 9a project was after sending Shangri-La, as it didn't feel like my absolute limit and I was curious about that process. Previously, my sole goal was doing Shangri-La, which itself was a new level for me.

The process of about 1.5 years around sending Nice Freshly Baked is very special to me because I could prove to myself that I can still push my limit at climbing whilst having a family with a toddler and a baby and pursuing my career as an attorney. The greatest challenge was to create a proper balance between those three goals in life (and deal with being regularly sick - as probably all parents of little kids). Sometimes you want to put a goal last, like I didn't climb outside for about half a year around the birth of my daughter last September. And sometimes you want to prioritize the climbing part, so I tried to create enough time for a second day of climbing per week at the project when the conditions were good in the last weeks."

"The route itself starts with a hard boulder problem and continues with about 12 moves of power endurance climbing up to another boulder problem with a low percentage large move to a hidden hold and two more hard moves. Afterwards, it is basically done. I already got up to that large move regularly last year but couldn't stick it in most attempts. I even fell a couple of times at the next move. In the end, all pieces fell together and I could climb Nice Freshly Baked."

Oriane Bertone, who has won 17 IFSC Youth competitions and been runner-up in the World Cup five times, won in Prague ahead of Janja Garnbret. Both scored 34 but Oriane used only four attempts for her tops meanwhile Janja needed six tries. The French competitor easily flashed the slab, which the Slovenian athlete was not close to sending it. On the more powerful boulder, it was the opposite situation. Flavy Cohaut from France got the bronze in her first World Cup of the season. Previously in 2023, she has done three Euro Cups winning twice and getting the silver in one. Complete results (c) IFSC

Bertone commented to IFSC: ”I knew I had to take the zone to win[on W4], and when I did, I saw my coaches go crazy, but I wanted my competition to be complete, so I had to stay concentrated. It was amazing, one of the best feelings I ever had. I love Flavy, she’s my friend and my teammate, and I’m so happy to be on the podium with her!”

Outdoors, the 18-year-old has one of the best female ticklist, having done her first 8c+ route and her first 8B/+ boulder at age 12. Her is an 8a interview from this spring.