Vojta Trojan has done his fourth 9a, Pornographie in Ceuse, after projecting it for ten days. (c) Adria Martinez

“It's a pretty short power endurance climb with two hard sections separated with kneebar rest. It's always challenging to climb something hard in Ceüse and I'm super happy to lead this battle to a successful end.”

Almost 2 000 8a members have made their Top-5 prediction. Janja Garnbret is the big favorite to win and among the male, Adam Ondra did get most votes followed by Tomoa Narasaki.

Each answer and rank you predicted correctly will earn you 100 points and one ticket toward the raffle. If you are among the participants with the most points, you will be entered into the raffle for the grand prize.

Andi Fichtner, who did her first 8A in 2019, has done her first 8A+, Happy Camper in Frankenjura.

What is your climbing background?
At the age of 19 I started climbing with the goal of becoming an alpinist. Rock climbing was just training for north faces, steep iceclimbing, long combined routes.

When I turned 30, I took part in a boulder fun cup - this was my start in competition climbing which I practiced the next 10 years. I climbed nationals and some speed climbing and bouldering world cups.

My next step took me outdoors again: started to do some rope climbing projects and a lot of bouldering.

How can you explain doing your hardest ever Boulder at 40+?
All in good time! Now that I started bouldering on natural rock it's exciting to see how I can keep improving over the months and years. Figuring out moves has always been my favourite thing and competitive experience helps me for quick and suitable beta. And a nice trait I carried over from my mountaineering days is the will to fight and never give up ;-)

Irina Kuzmenko, #3 in the Euro Bouldering Championship in 2019, has done two 8A's in Rocklands; In the Middle of the Ass and The Hatchling. "Mentally hard for me because sooooo high! I’m more about low boulders. 20 times was on the top then with the screaming climbing down then jump :)))))" (c) Juliet Lenova.

Everyone wants to climb harder, and training programs and online coaches pop up like mushrooms. Basically, their focus is how to get stronger quickly and how to peak quickly. This is an appropriate approach if you have climbed for many years and have excellent technical skills. Remember, however, that Adam Ondra became the best climber in the world just by climbing and enjoying training without any specific structure.

The number one advice for most rock climbers is just to climb more and easier than you use to. Until you can regularly do 7a's, the rock itself is your best coach. In order to become a better climber and making this your long term lifestyle, go for the easier grab every challenge they create. Climb them quicker, in a different style or simply just avoiding some holds.

The dilemma with the new culture with training programs and online coaches promising progress is that you become addicted to climbing harder grades and you might lose all the other reasons for climbing: friendship, scenery and adrenaline. The rock is your best coach and it is free. It is just up there to grab it!

Loic Zehani has done the FA of Little Fish 9a+ in Orgon. The 19-year-old has now done 32 routes graded 9a to 9b, out of which 19 FAs. "It shares the same start as "Le Poisson Pilote" (9a+) but the exit is different (on the left). It took me one session (I was surprised it went so fast) as two years ago it took me 40 tries to make the original version."

Alberto Ginés Lopez has competed in 15 IFSC competitions in 2021 as a preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. This can be compared to 3-5 events for most of his Olympics opponents. As a matter of a fact, many of the Olympians have not done any IFSC competitions in 2021. The male Top-4 favourites have done 3 - 8:
8 Alex Megos
5 Jakob Schubert
4 Tomoa Narasaki
3 Adam Ondra

The big question is which strategy is best? Surely, many already have years of competition experience but as there were only one WC in 2020, doing just a few is not ideal. Having focused mainly on training during 2021 including Speed, creating few opportunities for having fun at comps and outdoors, will build up anxiety in Tokyo. If you start the Olympics below expectations, even if you reach the final, the level of anxiety will increase, as you have sacrificed so much.

Personally, I think Alberto will feel less pressure if he ends up going into the second and third boulder with previous just bad results, compared with the ones having mainly just been training in 2021.

Luca Bana, who did Goldrake 9a+ in just three sessions in 2019, has done Moonlanding 9a in Passo della Presolana. It is the third ascent after Stefano Carnati and Gabri Moroni

"Moon Landing is an outstanding 30 meters line located at Passo della Presolana's crag: it's a logical linkup that follows the entire overhanging pillar from the bottom right to top left: basically a resistant 8c+ into a final heinous traverse on bad holds and poor feet around 8A FB.

Having already done all the single routes of this portion of rock, the next step was to connect them. Then, this year, from the second period of June, I came back to the crag with only one goal in mind and I re-started to try the moves and the sections. In a short time, I was able to climb again the first 8c+ part, while in the next 4/5 goes I fell off in the hard final traverse. Finally, last Saturday, despite the warm conditions, I managed to pass the heinous redpoint crux and grab the final jug. I'm really proud of this gem, bolted together with Berni Rivadossi as the other hard routes of the crag. About the difficulty I found it quite challenging for the grade, I'd say hard 9a."

Andrea Chelleris, Italian Slalom Champion this spring, has done his first 9a, Pure Dreaming in Arco. The 12-year-old has been living in a van in Arco since mid-June and needed 19 tries to take it down. During the winter he is training slalom five times a week and then in April he changed to climbing but due to the Covid situation, he has mainly been training at his home wall. His father and mother are also active climbers and Andrea started climbing when he was 5-years-old and did his first 8b+ at age 9.

Chaehyun Seo, who won the Lead World Cup in 2019, in a superior style, is one of the contenders for a medal in Tokyo.

How did covid-19 affect your training and preparation for Tokyo?
Because of covid-19, all the gyms of Seoul closed so I had to travel to Suncheon, which is 6 hours away from Seoul. That was a little bit tiring for me. In 2021, I just trained like before with team training. And always wearing a mask everywhere even when I trained.

What about your fathers climbing gym?
That is almost like my second home so I can train there anytime I want. It has been open since the winter.

What about specific Speed, Lead and Boulder training?
I didn’t train much time for speed! In Lead and Boulder, I trained like just the way I have done before, including Comp simulations at team training.

How much per week and how do you train?
Around 7 hours per during 4-5 days a week out of which 2-3 hours weight training on an average. Just like before😅. Stretching just for warm up

Outdoors, she has done three 8b+ and Seoknangil 8c+ this spring as part of her training.