Ramon Julian, the best male Lead competition climber in the 21st century with 21 WC victories and two WCH titles, has according to his scorecard done 289 routes 8c and harder, out of which 91 FA's. Although most of them are located in popular crags, many of them are still unrepeated. In fact, some of his most repeated 8c's have been upgraded by others to 9a, like La Bongada and La Reina Mora. The 158 cm tall has also done the FA of La Rambla 9a+. However, all repeaters but Adam Ondra have according to Ramonet done an, at least, one grade easier escape variation. Another example is Mejorando Imagen given 9a by Ramonet and later Ondra said it is possibly harder than First Round First Minute 9b. When it comes to his 8b and 8b+ FA's it is more or less the same story, relatively few repeats, and many upgrade suggestions. All these facts above and that it is a well-known fact in the local community that he is a notorious hard grader, suggest that he is a much better rock climber than his scorecard shows. In the 8a 21st Century ranking, he is #4 but it might be that further upgrades could move him to #2, just behind Adam Ondra? (c)

David Graham reports on Insta that he has finished the decade by doing two 8C's in Red Rocks; Trieste assis and Squoze. The latter took just four sessions. In total, the 38-year-old has done close to 20 boulders 8C meaning he has only Daniel Woods and Dai Koyamada ahead of him. Including also some 20 routes 9a and 9a+, most of them done before 2013, he was ranked as #4 in the 8a Sport climber of the 21st century. Next up is a three months honeymoon trip to Spain with Alizée Dufraisse, also listed on that Century list.

karoline sinnhuber, #3 in the ranking game, has done two 8A+' in Chironico; Second Life, Conquistador, and Delusion of Grandeur. "Proud line. sticked the 2nd move only that one time when I got to the top - nemesis move haha :-D." (c) Fabian Leu

Oriane Bertone, who has been appointed the 8a Teenager of 2019, has quickly done two 8B's in Rocklands; Leopard cave extended (video) and Hipster Whale. "I felt it soft. 1 hour to find my beta and solve the problem. I psyched to climb with Reunion Island friends on this boulder !! Thanks for supporting me :-)" Noteworthy is that it is summer in Rocklands with relatively poor conditions compared to June - August. The 14-year-old is #3 in the ranking game. Recently, Adam Ondra said in an interview that Oriane sticks out when it comes to potential juniors that could have an impact on the future scene.

Martin Stráník, the boulder specialist who was #11 in the Lead WC in 2019, has done his ninth 8C, by the the FA of Iceberg in Moravský kras. "5 days of work, 16 hard moves without rest, amazing conditions and great jump into year 2020."

Alex Totkova and Niki Rusev, both from Bulgaria, have done Los ultimos vampiros hippies in Margalef. Totakova was the only one beating Oriane Bertone in a competition and she is currently working a 9a. Rusev finished 2019 by doing his second 8b+, Aitzol and he was too young to do any IFSC comps last year.

-

Jonathan Guadalcazar has done the FA of Ataxia Hiperextension 9b in Crevillent which adds 15 meters to a 9a+ he did in October. The original Ataxia 9a, he did 20 months ago so it has been a long process linking the full 45 meter route.