Jean-Baptiste Jourjon has done La Novena Puerta (8c+) in Santa Linya. The 44-year-old also onsighted his second 8b, La ruta del sol (8b) after having done his first in 2021.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Santa Linya is a quite similar style compared to my home crag La Balme where I'm pretty good. Powerful sections are not too demanding for finger strength, and there are some kneebars.

When Novena Puerta was put up, I think there were already a few kneebars, but on which you couldn't put as much pressure with regular or even reinforced pants, as you can now with stiff rubber. The route has approx three sections for about 60 moves. It starts with a boulder with a huge drop knee, then power endurance to a good rest next to the end of the 7c+ to the right. The second section is quite bouldery, with a technical "friction" kneebar that helps catch a mono static before holding the swing (scary for the finger). This beta can't work without rubber on the knee. Medium rest brings us to the last section ending with a nice dyno from a slopey three finger hold. The jump is easy by itself but it's hard to keep enough body tension after so long and very steep climb. I spent 4 sessions during a week's holiday and 8 to 10 tries. It's always hard to choose the right project when climbing quite far from home, neither too easy nor too hard. Spending a lot of time at the same crag on the same route without guarantee of success is hard when there is so much easier nice stuff around to do, where you are pretty sure you would send within a day. I could do the moves at first work go, but I felt pumped quickly in the sections. Then came the mental game: you can't know how far you are from sending, you just have to try hard. I fell two times at the last move before sending it. I sent it at the first go of the day after a rest day, quite early because of conditions getting worse, warmer with no wind.

Can you also tell us something about your 8b onsight?
For the 8b, I felt relaxed after sending the 8c+ and still quite fresh. I was advised it was a good one for an onsight try, so I had a good mindset. I needed to try something completely different from redpoint project. I could see most holds from the ground, but I still had to improvise and change decisions during the climb. I didn't have much in the tank to allow mistakes, I had to go dynamic a few times with no possible return. Hopefully, the landing holds were correct enough, especially for the last spicy move, just before the warm sun touched the rock.

It seems you are peaking at age 44?
I don't know if I'm at peak, as I had never climbed there it's hard to say. At pure power, I'm certainly weaker than a decade ago but I'm more experienced to optimize the betas quickly. During bad weather on winter days, I've been more to the gym, and modern bouldering didn't suit me well: painful joints and not feeling strong on the rock. So I went back to rational basics in March and April in a more structured way to better focus on weaknesses and avoid injuries: finger strength, locks off, old school bouldering, and loops between 20 and 40 moves.

1. Mejdi Schalck FRA 23
2. Hannes van Duysen BEL 13 (2 attempts)
3. Paul Jenft FRA 13 (3)
4. Kokoro Fujii JPN 3 (9)
5. Soratu Anraku JPN 3 (11)
6. Jongwon Chon KOR 3 (13)
Complete results

Mejdi was the only one topping out two boulders in the final in Hachioji and by doing so he won his second Boulder World Cup victory. Hannes' previous best Boulder WC result was #31, out of three events, and last year he won the Youth Worlds. Paul, who won the semifinal, was #4 in Salt Lake City last year. A male podium without anybody from Japan is very rare and possibly this was the worst result for team Japan for several years. BetaRoutsetting youtube analyses.

1. Paul Jenft FRA 24
2. Jongwon Chon KOR 22
3. Soratu Anraku JPN 14
4. Mejdi Schalk FRA 14
5. Hannes Van Duysen BEL 14
6. Kokoro Fujii JPN 12
Complete results

Paul Jenft, who last year was twice #4, won the demanding semifinal by topping two boulders and getting four zones. The favourites Tomoa Narasaki and Yoshiyuki Ogata only made 4 tops and 2 zones and placed #10 and 13.

Stephan Vogt, who did his first 8C in 2021 but only two 8A’s, due to work, last year, has sent The Big Island (8C) in Fontainebleau. (c) Max Rauber

Can you tell us more about your ascent?
I briefly tried the boulder (only one short session) a year and a half ago. Back then I could hardly do any of the moves. This style (compression/slopers) is something I am usually not very good at. It was great to see that the winter training payed off. In January I injured my right ring finger during a training session. As I am working as a routesetter next to my filmmaking jobs I had a hard time letting the finger heal. I was super happy to find out that The Big Island was the perfect solution for me and my finger :)

I felt really good on the boulder and quickly managed to do all the moves. Putting it together took all of the three weeks I had in Bleau and I climbed it on my last day in pretty bad conditions. All in all I think it took me 10ish sessions.

When I started working on the boulder I did what I often do when falling in love with a project. I watched the videos of all the sends I could find on the internet. Watching Chri (Schweiger) send the boulder with his incredible power and psyche became part of my rest day routine. Chri climbed the boulder only a few months ago. I hardly knew him. Although I climbed in comps alongside him, filmed him during a German Youth Cup seven-ish years ago, and trained with him during my time on the German Climbing team I hardly knew him. The news of his tragic death moved me deeply. It put things into perspective. It changed the way I approached the boulder on all the following days. My thoughts go out to Chri and all those who were close to him!

1. Brooke Raboutou USA 34
2. Hannah Meul GER 13
3. Matsufuji Anon JPN 3 (7 attempts)
4. Ayala Kerem ISR 3 (9)
5. Zhilu Luo CHN 3 (11)
6. Mia Krampl SLO 1
Complete results

Meul won the semifinal scoring 22 and Anon won the quali with five straight onsights. Natalia Grossman, who ended the 2022 season by winning the five last events, was #8. Overall, Japan had nine girls at the Top-21.

This was the first ever World Cup gold for Brooke after having made the podium nine times, out of which five times in Boulder. Brooke's comments on, IFSC,

"It’s crazy. I feel a lot. It hasn’t really sunk. I knew I had won when I topped the last boulder, but even then, I was like ‘are you sure?’. Most of all I just feel thankful and really happy with my climbing today.” Well known through the climbing community, Raboutou’s family are a big influence, and she becomes the second generation to claim a World Cup gold after mum Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou: “I called my parents and they are very, very happy. My mum just told me she was really proud of me, but I feel that every day with them anyway. As much as winning a World Cup was a big dream for me, I had to thank my parents because they got me here and they get me up the wall.”

Loic Zehani has done the FA of Mossoul (9b) in Orgon. The 21-year-old has previously put up four 9b's and five 9a+' at the same crag. (c) Lunar Fox

"30 hard moves on a big overhang then an easy wall for the finish. In fact, it's a succession of 4 boulder sections without rest. A large part of Le poisson pilote (9a+) then a new and hard exit into the right. The movements are very varied and the climb is extremely physical. It's hard for me to give a grade to each bouldery sequence but I'll try: 8A/A+ (no rest) 7C+ (very bad rest) 8A hard (no rest) 7B and a 6c for the finish. Nowadays my hardest route and after "mature" reflections I propose 9b/b+ for this route. So happy to climb this stamina power test."

Stefano Carnati, who previously has done five 9a+, has repeated Stefano Ghisolfi's Erebor (9b) in Arco. "Unforgettable moment, good flow!"

The PhD student in environmental sciences at the University of Como, a three hour drive from Arco, comments on Insta, "...sometimes the weekend warrior mode has its pros. In this situation it definitely gave me time to recognize a better approach forward by analyzing every finest detail in such a way that I could work on my weaknesses during my training routine and possibly be gradually more complete. Since the climb was at my very limit, after each session I was always telling myself that every slightest thing I would improve was ok to keep the process on."

When did you start trying it and how many sessions in total?
I started trying it seriously in November during the weekends (1 or two days). I already had a few sessions a few years ago after Ste Ghiso's ascent. Around 20 sessions in total.

Japan had eight females and seven males advancing to the Top-20 semifinal. The only one onsighting all five problems was Anon Matsufuji from Japan and you had to top four boulders among the females and three among the males, to make it to the semi.

From the female and male results we can see several big names did not make the semi:
Stasa Gejo #27, Oriane Bertone #31, Petra Klingler #33 and Fanny Gibert #35.
Tomoaki Tokata #23, Maximillian Milne #25, Colin Duffy #27, Jakob Schubert #27 and Jernej Kruder #41.

SATURDAY, 22 APRIL (UTC+9)
11:00 WOMEN'S BOULDER SEMI-FINAL
17:00 WOMEN'S BOULDER FINAL

SUNDAY, 23 APRIL
11:00 MEN'S BOULDER SEMI-FINAL
17:00 MEN'S BOULDER FINAL

It should be noted that it says in the schedule that all the finals will be found on Youtube!

The Hachioji Boulder World Cup starts on Friday with the qualification and the semi and the finals will be live-streamed on Discovery+. 24h after each round, you will be able to watch a replay on the Olympic channel.. More info at IFSC. (c) Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC

2022 Overall Rankings
1. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN - Natalia Grossman USA
2. Tomoa Narasaki JPN - Miho Nonaka JPN
3. Kokoro Fujii JPN - Brooke Raboutou USA

Japan has dominated the last ten years and 2022 was possibly their best year ever with eight guys in the Top-19. There just might be ten males from Japan in the semifinal and four in the final. 16-year-old Soratu Anraku won the last cup so he is the new star to look out for.

Among the female, Natalia Grossman won the last five events in 2022 but she is actually not the favourite to win as she has had a harsh winter dealing with unknown stomach issue after food poison. In March she reported on Insta, with a picture laying in a hospital bed. Japan has eleven females competing with Miho Nonaka as the biggest challenger.