According to the Munich starting list, the Top-4 female and Top-6 male from Japan (but Yoshiyuki Ogata) are not scheduled to compete in Muncih. These nine boulderers have made it to the semi 28 out of 31 times in 2019. (c) Eddie Fowke In the last event in Wujiang, the four female were all Top-7 and the five male were all Top-7! Shauna Coxey as well as Stasa Gejo are also missing. This means we will see many new faces in the semi and in the finals at the same time this will be the most important WC in 2019, to get a good combined ranking score.

Janja Garnbret has won the last six WC boulder events she has entered. In Lead, she has missed the podium once in all the 25 WCs she has done since she was 15 years old. In total, she has won 62 % of all Boulder and Lead WCs she has competed in. In the four World CH events she has participated in she has won three gold and one silver. (c) Eddie Fowke from last year winning in Munich. Interestingly, she has been selective and not done all comps any year. Last year she just did three out of seven Boulder WCs and in 2016 she did not participate in the WCH. During the years we have seen many youngster being very successful being 15 or 16 years old but all most of them stopped competing quite early. Adam Ondra has also been careful selecting comps in the start of his career.

France dominated the European Youth Cup in Graz. In total they got two golds and eight Top-4 positions. The most superior winner was once again Oriane Bertone who did all eight problems in the qualification first try and she was the only one to do all four final boulders. 00: Leo Favot FRA - Camilla Moroni ITA 02: Alberto Gines ESP - Nika Potapova UKR 04: Oriane Bertone FRA - Jim Zeimes LUX Complete results

Jonathan Siegrist, who did a 9b in Villanueva del Rosario last week, has at the same crag done Mandega total 9a (8c+) and another three 8c+' the last week. "Hard boulder problems and very good rests. Any line that goes to the top of this cliff is automatically 4 stars! Tough to grade, but seems like low 9a for the cliff. 3 tries including the bottom. No knee bars.

Jonathan Siegrist, who did a 9b in Villanueva del Rosario ten days ago, has at the same crag done Mandanga total 9a (8c+) and another three 8c+' the last week. (c) Javi Pec "Hard boulder problems and very good rests. Any line that goes to the top of this cliff is automatically 4 stars! Tough to grade, but seems like low 9a for the cliff. 3 tries including the bottom. No knee bars." J-star is #3 in the 8a ranking game and in total he has now done 43 routes 9a and harder. More info on his Insta. "This last week has been awesome for me, feeling relief that the main objective is over and climbing a muerte on these other 5 star lines. At this point my body and mind are completely blown out, and it’s time for some serious rest."

Cathy Wagner has done La Padrina 8a+ in Capçanes in just three days, "greatly facilitated by the powerful unexpected wind of the evening." The 53-year-old has done 63 8a's to 8b during the last year and in total, 720 since 1994, out of which 23 % second go.

Ryuichi Murai reports on Insta that he had done The Game in Boulder Canyon which was his tenth 8C. "I’m so happy to send Daniel’s masterpiece ! It took 2 days to send. First day, this boulder was bad condition due to rain and snow. I could do compression moves of upper part on the day, but bottom part (from start holds to 3rd hold) was so wet, and I couldn’t do. Second day, this boulder was better condition and I managed to climb it in the evening. When I touched this boulder at the first time, I was certain that I can climb because I’m good at roof climbing and compression moves. So I could do quick ascent though it's a hard problem." (c) Oda Momo

Mathieu Bouyoud, who previoulsy has done 18 9a's and one 9a+ FA, has done Esclatamasters 9a (8c+) in Perles, in just six tries. (c) Henning Wang "Now I come back in France for working. I hope the weather is good for trying the local project. Short routes in local cliff "Les Rigauds" and another one in "Virignin".

Daniel Woods confirms upgrading of Jimmy Webbs La Rustica 8C in Valle Bavona on his Insta. "Pure compression wrestling out this perfect overhung river polished feature. The crux move is a savage reach out right to a hard to get into pocket. From here you gotta keep your shit together all the way to the end. I actually fell on the last move a few times." (c) Stefan Kuerzi - Insta Interesting is that Daniel will be the first boulderer to reach 12 000 points once he has put it in his scorecard. His Top-10 ascents the last 12 months includes two 8C+ and two 8B+ and the rest 8Cs. The 29 year old has been one of the leading climbers in the world the last 12 years and in total he has now done more than 250 boulders 8B and harder. Add to that five 9a+ and one 9b including also winning a Boulder World Cup, the 169 cm tall should be considered one of the best climbers in the history.