Giuliano Cameroni has made the FA of a Fred Nicole ~10m bolted route in Rocklands naming it Legacy. Gradewise, it is an 8B+ with an 8b finish making it the first 9a in Africa. Fred had been projecting it every year since 2014. In last November he had a hip replacement so this year he was in better shape. "When Giuliano asked me if I mind him trying the route I sincerely didn’t know what to answer. In my generation, it’s not usual to try somebody’s project till the person does it or gives it free. In the same time, I didn’t feel like telling somebody I know since he was born, and that I respect for his performances, not to try it. I let the decision to him and wished him sincerely luck if he would go for it!", reported Fred on Insta Cameroni has made some comments on Insta saying he is very impressed of Nicole's ascents as his beta is harder being shorter. "Fred is a very humble person and before I climbed the route he didn’t tell me how close he was to send it. In my generation we tend not to close projects, rocks are free and everyone is able to enjoy them. In my opinion, this is the best way to progress our sport, by working as a team instead of competing against each other."

To speed up and increase the excitement in several disciplines in Track & Field, like in long jump, only the Top-6 out of twelve will be allowed to do four jumps. Then they will reduce to five athletes doing five jumps and just four will do the final jump. Also in Adidas Rockstars they reduce the number of athletes in order to increase the excitement. 8a has previoulsy suggested similar ideas for Bouldering in the World Cup. 1. Let 8 athletes advance to the final 2. Reduce to Top-6 after the first two boulders 3. Reduce to Top-4 after three boulders 4. Make a short break 5. Run a super final with the athletes in reversed order However, everyone who still has a chance to win, if the route setters have made a mistake separating the participants, are allowed to compete on the next boulder. Furthermore, the 8a suggestion did also include that the two first boulders are climbed at the same time. Before the fourth and last boulder, there is a short break and then the Top-4 climbs in reversed order. Such a final will take around 70 minutes including a 5-minute break and will be packed with action with a more exciting finish. This can be compared with 80-90 min for the current format which normally has plenty of sequences with less action and excitement.

In the Adidas Rockstars super final, where Janja Garnbret and Futaba Ito climbed on two identical boulders, Ito fell midways but jumped up directly. Garnbret was caught in the middle and could not find the sequence and soon the 17 year old Japanese got to her height and just kept going without hesitating. As Ito hit the buzzer, Garnbret was still hanging in the same position. Third was Ai Mori, only 15 years old. Among the male, nor Yoshiyuki Ogata or Florian Klingler could not finish the superfinal boulder during the four minutes although both come very close. Then they made the finish a little bit easier but Ogata opted for his original sequence and topped. Jongwon Chon got the bronze. The winners got a check of Euro 5 000 both. Ogata said directly after his victory, "This comp is the most enjoyable competition in the world." (c) Vladek Zumr

In one of the hardest female semi rounds ever, Shauna Coxsey was #5 by just doing one Top and one Zone. Luckily, Janja Garnbret and three Japanese saved the show. Oriane Bertone, 14 years old, was #8 by doing one Top which only was done by Garnbret and Miho Nonaka. Nine girls did not get one zone! Also among the male, one Top was good enough to make it to the final. Florian Klingler won being the only one with two tops and four zones. Nine male did not score a Top. Semi results (c) Vladek Zumr

The last event to qualify for Tokyo is the five Continental Combined Championships which will take place in spring 2020. No info of how they will be set up in regards format etc is available yet. However, as most of them are scheduled to last just 2 - 4 days, one might speculate that first the three disciplines will be run in qualification mode getting the Top-8, who then will run a final during one day. In other words, the flash or semi? results in Lead will be multiplied with the qualification results in Speed and Boulder to get the Top-8. In regards the European and the Asian Championship, it just might be that very few of the best will take part as they already have qualified or that their country quota has been filled. Furthermore, most probably, these events will be held in the same period as the Boulder World Cup will run in 2020. Being a bit conspiratorial, the Continental Championship might be the best possibility for Russia to get a ticket to Tokyo, by sending the biggest team possible to Moscow and then run the results by the calculator? It should also be mentioned that this is the only possibility for Chaehyon Seo to qualify as she has not done any Boulder World Cups, so she can qualify to Toulouse, and that she did not make it in Hachioji.

As no athletes from micro Olympic nations took part in the Combined WCH, there will be no Tripartite selection. This means that the selection will be reallocated to the next best in Hachioji, not yet qualified, respecting the max country quota. At the moment, it means that Yannick Flohé and Anouck Jaubert have a provisional ticket to Tokyo. However, if Jan Hojer respectively Fanny Gibert and Julia Chanouride qualify in Toulouse or at the European Championship, Flohé and Jaubert are kicked out due to the max country quota. This would mean the reallocation of the tripartite selection will go to Nathaniel Coleman from USA and Julia Chanouride. This is also the case of Flohé and Jaubert qualify in Toulouse or at the Euro CH. In practice, it could be that France have gotten their max quota and then Chanouride is out and the tripartite reallocation will go to Mia Krampl. However, as Krampl could have qualified or that Slovenia has reached their max country quota, then Di Niu from China would go to Tokyo. Out of all possibly scenarios, here are the probabilities for the top ranked getting the the Tripartite reallocation; Di Niu 33 % - Nathaniel Coleman 67 % Anouck Jaubert 32 % - Yannick Flohé 30 % Mia Krampl 30 % - Others 3 % Others 5 % In theory at least five more male and female could get the tripartie reallocation if all the above qualifies or their nation have reached the max country quota. Here are the overall probabilities that the mentioned athletes will make it to Tokyo; 80 % Nathaniel Coleman & Anouck Jaubert 67 % Mia Krampl & Yannick Flohé (meaning 33 % for Jan Hojer) 40 % Di Niu