Yannick Flohé, who has been Top-7 in all eight WC's he has done in 2022, has been on a quick trip to Magic Wood where he did four 8B+ boulder problems. In the 8a ranking game he is #4 and that is also his position in the IFSC Lead and Boulder rankings 2022.

"It was my first time in Magic and I really enjoyed it. The first three days started with rain so I checked out Ill Thrill (8B+) and did The Never Ending Story (8B+) and Power of Now (8B+) which stay dry except for the last hold. Power of Now only took a couple of tries but Ill trill felt hard for me because it’s so technical with lots of heel hooks. On my last day, I made a quick ascent of Believe in two (8B+). It’s a rarely repeated 8B+ that shares the same start as Steppenwolf. I also tried In search of time loss in the Darkness cave but It was too hot to try hard. But luckily I’ll come back straight after the Koper WC in two weeks 😄."

Camilla Moroni, who recently was #9 in both Lead and Boulder in the Euro Championship, has done four 8As while on a three day trip to Silvretta.

"After the European Championship in Munich I went three days in Silvretta for a little break before my last international competition of the year, the Lead WC in Koper. Since my trip lasted only three days I decided not to try too hard boulders and to enjoy the new place. It was really good climbing some beautiful lines at 2000 metres surrounded by mountains. During this little break, I managed to send Diamond Nuts (8A), Pretty Belinda (8A), Shining (8A) and . I climbed the last two boulders on the same day but I had already tried them on the first day. In the next month probably I will come back to Magic Wood to send some old projects of the last year. And this winter I'd like to send some hard boulders in Ticino like Heritage (8B+)."

Lilli Kiesgen has done Sofa Surfer 8A (+) in Magic Wood. "Our trip was only eight days long and we had two rainy days. On this trip, I was motivated to try hard stuff for the first time. I checked out many different boulders. On Sofa Surfer the single moves felt doable in my first session. I came back two days later and it went down pretty fast☺️ I think the style and the moves suited me very well."

Martina Demmel reports on Insta that she has done Deltaplane man direct (8c+) in Entraygues. The 20-year-old started climbing in 2017 and already in 2019, she onsighted her first, out of six, 8b's. Last year she did her first 9a and onsighted her second 8b+ and she was actually #1, ahead of all males, in the 8a onsight ranking game. Unfortunately, the year ended with a broken foot after a massive fall in Oliana. Since 2020, she has done most World Cups and her best result is #15. (c) Fabian Herentrey

How is your broken foot and how do you combine outdoors and competitions?
Thanks for asking, my foot is all good again since March, so I was definitely lucky that I could climb without any limitations after three months already😁! Overall, my main focus shifted to preparing well for the lead comps the upcoming years especially because I'm gonna start an education with a special program for national team members of all sports. It's perfect to combine training and learning a job at the same time + to have a safe place where to work later😊 therefore, way less rock climbing in the next years but I'm still trying to fit in 1-2 days on the weekends🌞! But first, the last Lead WC's of the season are coming.

Hugo Hoyer and Anastasia Sanders, both from the USA, got the golds in the Youth B category in Dallas. Sanders flashed all four problems and won on countback over Natsumi Oda from Japan who also just needed four tries doing all four boulders. "I didn’t feel a lot of pressure this competition because I knew I could do all the Boulders and I was capable of flashing all of them, I just need to be a little bit careful.” Interestingly, the final boulders were way easier than both the qualification and semi-rounds. Complete results

Hugo Sanders did three boulders as also the runner-up Matteo Reusa from Italy did. “I love that style of Boulder,” Hoyer commented on the final problem. “And when I came out to preview I thought it looked like a fun Boulder. I knew if I topped it I would be in a good place. I pulled up and swung and came off the first time but thought I can do this, and the second time around I stuck it. After that I was really happy.”Complete results

Clément Lechaptois, who previously has done five 8C's, has done Monkey Wedding (8C) in Rocklands. "I tried Monkey Wedding back in 2021 and was close to sending but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish the job. This year it went quite fast on the second day trying the boulder. Good friends were there, I was chill, so that has been a good time. Thanks Fred Nicole for another great classic! (c) Marine Thevenet

What are your autumn plans?
Climbing around home in Valais and Chamonix. Then probably a bit of Ticino :)

Any specific projects? Maybe Fuck the System. I've already invested quite some time in it so it would be amazing to try to finish it off. Otherwise I don't know yet

Japan has had a great start in the Youth World Championship in Dallas getting five medals including one gold by Ritsu Kayotani in the boys U-18. He and also the silver medalist, Toby Roberts from GBR, were the only youngsters doing all 14 problems, among the two + two oldest categories. Complete results

Among the oldest boys, Hannes Van Duysen from Belgium, who recently was #12 in the Lead Euro CH in Munich, won being the only won doing three boulders. "Doing World Cups I’ve had to train more and get smarter during simulations because of the level of competition. That has really motivated me to train harder and the extra training has shown." Complete results

In the girls U-18, Sara Copar won each round actually by doing at least one boulder more the all the others. In the finals, the Slovenian needed just five tries doing the four boulders. Last year she got the gold in Lead in the YWCH and this year the 17-year-old's best World Cup result is #12 in Lead. "I came here to enjoy and make it to finals, maybe the podium. I didn’t know what to expect actually. But qualification was good. Then semis was good. Then the final was crazy, it all seemed to be happening so fast. “I’m just so happy. I don’t care what is going on anywhere else, I just wanted to climb and enjoy myself and that’s what I did. Everything seemed to go to plan and now I’m so happy.” Complete results

Zélia Avezou from France, sibling to Sam who recently was #2 in the Munich ECH, did win U-20 being the only one doing all four problems and she also won each round. Zélia's oldest brother Leo has also won several events as a junior and their mother Cecile was one of the very best Speed climbers in the mid-90'ies. Complete results

The youngest boys and girls had their semi yesterday and highest up in the ranking were Augustine CHI, USA - 4T4z 5 4 and Lucy GARLICK, GBR - 4T4z 6 4. Here is the full IFSC report with more quotes.