Showcase our sport through events is the IFSC first key objective. I must say that IFSC badly needs to present digital info live on the screen in order to take full advantage of all excitement that happens in Combined in Moscow Here is some info that could be visible all the time making the event a better showcase of our sport.

1. Personal best time next to the athletes time
2. Current rankings after each round in both Speed and Boulder
3. In bouldering the results for each boulder is not possible to find at all
4. Current rankings based on the multiplication score

Furthermore, Matt Groom who is doing a great job, needs a sidekick that can analyse the result and explain what results are needed for the athletes. With no digital updates live on the screen it is very hard for him analysing everything live. As an example, as Jernej Kruder was in trouble on his third boulder, the excitement would increase if the audience would hear. "Most probably, Jernej needs to top in order to have a chance for Tokyo."

In reality, one can speculate that a max score of 380 is needed in order to make it to the Top-8. In other words, William Bosi and Sergei Luzhetski, could just drop out after the first hold in order to save their muscles and performing at their best when the Olympic ticket is at stake tomorrow. Stasa Gejo just needs to beat the Speed specialists, meaning she can let go after 4-5 clips probably.

Alexander Rohr has done his ninth 9a by the FA of The Back Of Beyond 9a in Soyhières. (c) Hannes Kutza

"Extension to Jusqu‘au bout du monde. Hard boulder after the first pitch and really resistant. Finally, the original line is born and the Jura got his first 9a. I tried it some days in the beginning of November, but the conditions were still too warm. I went there again last week for three sessions and had a breakthrough on Thursday. Then the conditions on the weekend were bad again but I finally sent on Tuesday on my third try of the day.

The key in this route is doing the lower pitch which is 8c without getting tired and having dry but not too cold conditions. It was a bit weird, as the conditions changed quite a lot and it became hard to predict what‘s going to happen. But in the end, I just kept in trying and got rewarded.

Local Moscow GMT+3 time
15.50 Women's Speed Finals
16.30 Men's Speed Finals
17.30 Women's Boulder Finals
19.00 Men's Boulder Finals
21.00 Women's Lead Finals

David Kompatscher has done his first 8C, Zunami in Saalachtal. Actually, until 2020, his hardest boulder during the last two years was doing a couple 8A's. Uncut video.

"I already got close to sending the boulder three years ago, but then a knee injury stopped me from trying it because there is an essential hook, which is really demanding for the knee. Some weeks ago I gave it a try again - the knee felt good and I got really close. All in all, I invested around 25 to 30 days on projecting the boulder."

Seb Bouin reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of De l’autre Côté du Ciel (The Other Side of the Sky) 9a in Les Eaux Claires, which Fred Rouhling put up in 1997. "It’s a huge roof really esthetic, it looks likes someone cut it with a knife. The moves are really big and impressive. There are some twist and 360° on the roof on good holds. Almost 100% chipped, but so fun to climb." (c) Julien Nadiras

Seb, who previously has done some 65 routes 9a and harder, has the last month repeated Rouhlings Hugh 9a from 1993 and the first repeat of Akira 9a (b) from 1995. Seb has commented to 8a, "Fred was ahead of his time and part of the reason for my Vintage trip was to salute him. The difficulty of those routes is amazing! At the same time, I can just say all three routes felt 9a."

Viktoriia Meshkova got her second gold by winning Lead ahead of Eliska Adamovska, being the faster climber touching the final jug. Both had previously topped all three routes. Amazingly, Viktoriia did 18 IFSC World Cups last year and her best result was #16! Molly Thompson-Smith got the bronze. It should be mentioned that Chloe Caulier, who was second in Boulder, topped both qually routes but did not show up for the semi. Most probably she retired due to saving her skin and muscles from the Combined Olympic quest starting on Friday. (c) Nikita Tsarev

Among the male, Sacha Lehmann got the Euro title seeming quite in control the whole way. Runner-up was Nicolas Collins who put up the biggest fighting show in the final. First, he chose to land with just one hand on the big sideways double dyno. Later he started to fight harder than the others and in the end, he was screaming like Adam Ondra for several moves. Noteworthy is that the Belgian is the only male athlete who has participated in all three finals and he showed his fingers for the camera and it will be interesting to see if he can get the skin back until Friday. Third was Dmitrii Fakirianov.

It must be said that overall it was a good show and on the live-screaming, we could follow the results in a bar hold by hold. Overall, the route setters and the organizers have done a great job in Moscow.

Viktoria Meshkova won five out of six rounds getting the Lead and Boulder golds in the European Championship in Moscow. This must be one of the biggest sensations in the climbing history as her previous best was #16 out of eleven Lead and Boulder WC's last year. Add to that the quarantine this spring meant just training at her apartment for two months and that she got Covid-19 one month ago. In total, she could just do five sessions in the climbing gym prior to the Euro Championship. (c) Nikita Tsarev

Dmitry Sharafutdinov, the Russian training coach who has won three World Championships and who is famous for mainly done pull-ups as his training regime, says that probably hard physical training 20+ hours a week in her apartment during the two months lockdown is the best explanation.

"The secret of her success is probably the spring lockdown. Everyone was at home. Communication only online. I wrote a training program. At home, Vika performed an enormous amount of physical training. Like me in my best years. 5 times a week, for 4-5 hours. (But the exercises are a secret.) Fingerboard was done regularly. But that was not the main one. Rather, the emphasis was on training large muscles. We used a little bit of everything. But no matter how strange it may sound, I took a lot from figure skating and alpine skiing. Not much with weights, mostly with her own weight.

A month ago, a test for coronavirus gave a positive result and she isolated herself. The disease was mild. She was under the supervision of a doctor of the Russian national command team. As soon as the symptoms went away she began training. Online first, and after negative tests five times at the climbing gym. It's hard for me to say now what played a decisive role. Perhaps rested."

Katie Lamb has done Abaddon 8A+ in Black Velvet and she is #5 in the 8a ranking game.

"Abaddon is my second of the Black Velvet trifecta and a friendly neighbour to my favourite highball, Natasha’s Ball. After doing my usual fifteen lap warmup on Natasha’s Ball (with a sun salutation on the summit each time) I was ready for my project. Abaddon sits right above a Pit of Mordor and I had to be careful not to take the rip of life into the Pit. Luckily two friendly trad climbers passed by and agreed to lie like logs in the Pit, acting like extra pads and being the perfect spotters during the send. With my heart and mind clear, the send felt bang bang!"

Nicolas Milburn, who previously has done two 9a's, has done his second 8C, Southern drawl in Chattanooga. "Definitely my hardest boulder to date! I put about 25 days of work into this thing, but despite all the sessions, it does just feel like another boulder. It's odd to put so much of my soul into a piece of rock in the forest, but I take pleasure from this kind of pursuit. It has been really exciting to mark my progress on this specific boulder. I have been feeling really strong lately, but until now I wasn't really sure where I was at. Now I feel confident I have improved as a climber."

Based on the male qualification, Sergei Luzhetskii is the new favourite, on paper, getting the ticket to Tokyo. His Combined score is 3 - 2 - 21 meaning he is the first-ever Combined athlete performing on a high level in both Speed and Boulder, beside Tomoa Narasaki. Amazingly, he was on an average #67 in the last seven Boulder WCs. Theoretically, he will be #2 in Speed and if he repeats his runner-up position behind Jernej Kruder in Bouldering, he will most likely make it to Tokyo. The head coach of Russia, Dima Sharafutdinov comments, "He was always strong, but injuries prevented. He's finally healthy! Here is the result!"

Noteworthy is also that Sergei was #17 in the Lead qualification but did not show up in semi, meaning that he has gotten one more rest day than the others. Also, Aleksei Rubtsov did not start in the semi so he should be considered a challenger for getting to Tokyo together with Jernej Kruder and Sascha Lehmann. The currently #1 ranked is Nicolas Collin but as he has done all three finals, he should suffer from bad skin and fatigue, meaning he would have to once again make a fight for his life high up there close to the Tops. It needs to be mentioned that there is a "risk" that the bronze will go to the Speed specialists Danyil Boldyrev although he is dead last in Lead or Boulder, if just the other results go his way. Male Combined results.