Alex Honnold, who previously has done three 8c+', has done his first 9a, Arrested Development in Mount Charleston. More info to come. In 2017, Alex free soled the 950 m Freerider and the film of it won an the Oscar Documentory award this spring. Then we contacted Alex asking for an interview. "I’m happy to do some kind of interview for 8a at some point, though we should wait a few months for all the crazy movie travel to be over. I’m hoping to be the first (and maybe only) climber to send 9a and go to the Oscars in the same year. If I ever manage to climb that hard you should do a proper 8a interview."

Linda Sjödin has done New Base Line in Magic Wood. The Swede's previous personal best was 8A. Eric Karlsson's video perfectly captures her almost shocking journey to be the 11th woman to reach 8B+. The last two years she has done seven World Cups with #51 as her best.

Giuliano Cameroni has done his third 8C in just ten days, Finnish Line in Rocklands and amazingly it took him just three sessions. (c) Lucas Gaona Cifuentes On his Insta he comments, "Absolutely perfect boulder, one of those dream lines that alone are worth traveling for! The ending was pretty epic, I got sweaty and couldn’t see the holds cause of the sun haha.. actually this might be my most memorable ascent so far! Had a perfect crew and lots of pads, thanks everyone for the support."

Japan got four male among the Top-7 in the Adidas Rockstars qualification and among the female, two of them did all four boulders on their first go. More info and pictures on Adidas Rockstars. Livstreaming on Saturday; Semifinal 11.00 am - 1.30 pm and Final & Superfinal 8.15 pm - 11.15 pm. Results: Male and Female.

Gonzalo Larrocha, who previously has done 12 routes 9a and harder, has done two 9a's on the same day, Cosi se Arete and La Gioconda in Rodellar. "I have spent two weeks in Rodellar. Both routes are quite long. Cosi sa arete is 50m with the hardest part in the last 5m. Gioconda is over 45 m with a 25m roof with a lot of tricks." The 35 year old Spaniard is by far having his best year. He did his first 9a four years ago and then he has been on a continuous progress.

"Impressive, gravity-defying moves on state-of-the-art climbing walls are guaranteed when the world’s best bouldering athletes fight for an entry to the super-final at the annual adidas ROCKSTARS invitational that is hosted in Germany next weekend, on the 13th and 14th of September. Among the competitors of adidas ROCKSTARS 2019 are the defending champions Miho Nonaka (JPN) and Jernej Kruder (SLO), the incredibly gifted Janja Garnbret (SLO), who won this year’s overall bouldering world cup as well as a triple World Champion title (Boulder, Lead, Olympic Combined), the triple adidas ROCKSTAR Sean McColl (CAN) and the two-time overall bouldering world cup winners, Shauna Coxsey (GBR) and Jongwon Chon (KOR). Adidas Rockstars, when Climbers Meet Music. Qualifications on Friday and on Saturday, live-streaming; Semifinal 11.00 am - 1.30 pm and Final & Superfinal 8.15 pm - 11.15 pm

Claudia Ghisolfi, copies what her brother did nine years ago by skipping 8b+ and does L'extremacura in Gravere as her first 8c. In the last World Cup in Briancon was #25. In total she has made it to the semifinal 13 times and her best result is #13. (c) Stefano Ghisolfi

Vojta Trojan, who just turned 20, has done his second 9a, Der Heilige Gral in Frankenjura. (c) Jakub Konečný "I knew that it was a question of time, because the moves already didn't feel hard for me. I started trying it almost a year ago and it took me almost 30 days to finish it. The main problem was, that it was (more or less) wet all the time. So I just had to be strong enough to climb it even with wet hands! This route is really a milestone for me.. I've never sacrificed that much for one route. But this route was definitely worth it! Definitely the best I've seen and climbed.

Based on the official Tokyo 2020 qualification system, it is not yet clear if the Japaneses are allowed to compete in Toulouse. "The twenty (20) highest ranked athletes per gender, not yet qualified through D.1 above (Hachioji), at the Overall World Cup Ranking will be selected for participating in the Olympic Qualifying Event." As no male or female can qualify to the Olympics, as their second spot is a "host" selection, it is not clear if they will be allowed to participate in Toulouse. In any case, it is not fair that the best are not allowed to compete/train on the only event identical to the one in Tokyo 2020. Further more, how do IFSC plan to do with the substitutes for injured climbers? It might be that it is good enough to be ranked #30 in the overall Combined if the Japaneses and the Top-7 in Hachioji are not allowed. The twist for this is that there most probably will then will be at least one Speed climber in Toulouse that probably will get another an Olympic ticket. With three male Speed climbers in Tokyo, the probability for any of them talking a bronze is on pure mathematics almost 50 %.

Alizée Dufraisse is back from Africa and enjoys bouldering in Switzerland where she did El Toro 8A+ in Gottardo in just two sessions. (c) David Graham "I am going to do route climbing again in south of France (st antonin noble val) for the next month and a half with the easier projects there and then Spain for La Rambla in November!" The former successful competition climber has been projecting the 9a+ for for three years now.