From the Moscow starting list we can see that the Narasaki brothers and Akiyo Noguchi will not participate. Further more, all top guys but Adam Ondra will do Speed. Interesting that three of the Top-2 in Meiringen seem to think that "less could be more" in the very long 2019 season ahead of them. The Narasaki brothers and Noguchi are back in track for Chongqing 27/4 doing both disciplines but Ondra has not yet signed up for any Speed World Cup.

Marine Thevenet, #7 in the Boulder World Cup in 2014, reports on Insta that she has done Fred Nicole's La danse des Balrogs original 8A+ in Branson, in just three sessions. In total she has now done 27 boulders 8A to 8B and her goal is to do 30 before turning in few months. (c) Clément Lechaptois "I prefer to spend my week-ends discovering boulders instead of climbing gym or during competitions. But it doesn't mean that I stopped climbing or training!"

Two weeks ago I read an article saying Kids skiing gets smarter. The explanation is physical activity but also learning how to concentrate and improved coordination etc. Personally I would say that possibly it also relates to all the decisions the skiing kids have to do going down the slope. During the years I have been chatting with dozens of kids 12 - 15 years climbing very hard and almost always I have been shocked about how smart and mature they seem. It could just be that all the problem solving situation they have faced they have developed their brain making them much smarter and mentally stronger, which could be part of the reason why they climb at the same level as the adults? Yesterday in an IFSC meeting in Lausanne, I met Charlotte Durif and we discussed the subject. In 2005, Charlotte Durif (15) was the best female onsight climber ever and she was at that time even among the best male. We sent her some questions in French and our translator Jones Belhaj, big brother to Said, told us that he had never come across a 15 year old expressing her self in such a mature and advanced way - "He had to simplify some of her equilibristic words and sentences in order to make them understandable for everyone." Charlotte, five times Youth World Champion, won the Euro Championship being 15 years old and she is the first female to have onsighted an 8c. In 2011, she became the second women to do a 9a. In 2017, she got her PhD and got attributed the grade of Doctor in Chemistry and Physical Chemistry of Materials! Currently she is based in Salt Lake City working as an consultant to IFSC focusing on the Olympic movement.

Zhanan Zou, a.k.a. Bruce, has climbed Ty Landman’s Midnight Express 8B+ in Boulder Canyon, potentially becoming the first Chinese climber to climb the grade. Previously he had done two 8B's. Bruce started climbing at age 26 after moving from China to Boulder, Colorado in 2014. A week before the ascent of Midnight Express he successfully defended his PhD thesis in Mechanical Engineering. He wants to continue to pursue his research, and hopes to develop boulders in China, to open up a new level of climbing for Chinese climbers. Video finishing with screaming louder than Ondra and Sharma together :) (c) Cesar Valencia

Samuel Ometz has done Bain de Sang 9a in St Loup which Fred Nicole put up in 1993. "Soft Very interesting route! Felt desperate at first, 2 days to figure out the moves and another 2 to send. Hard to grade."

Zander Waller, #7 in both Lead and Bouldering in the last YWCH, has done his first 8B, Booka Booka Booka in Moe's Valley. ”Super happy to have sent Booka in one session, I think it may be soft but I'm not sure; I haven't really tried any other v13s. The big move was hard for me but on the send everything lined up perfectly and I managed to stick it. I think I need to start trying more hard boulders soon. I'm focused on comps after the end of my trip, next stop is tuck fest DWS, then the Come and Send It Fest, and Youth Sport Nationals. After that I will be training for youth world's in Arco.”

Giuseppe Nolasco has done his first 9a, Ground Zero in Tetto di Sarre after projecting it for 19 weekends since 2011. The last winter he trained very hard for it. (c) Gianluca Bosonin "I tried Ground Zero for the first time in 2011, I directly had good vibes and actually after a few weekends I fell off the last hold when I couldn't clip the chain. For years I didn't try it again, just one short session in 2017 and a more attempt in 2018. After a great winter training, finally on 7 April I sent my first 9a, first ascended by Alberto Gnerro."

Article from Munich World Cup in 2017 Talking to many of the Japanese coaches and athletes in regards to their extreme recipe for success, it is about problem solving in a challenging interactive mode. There is no Japanese secret, they just go to the gym five times a week and basically just have fun doing and interacting on spectacular boulders, and stretch every day. The focus from their coaches is technique. Strengh weaknesses are solved by doing specific boulders rather than hanging on a campus board etc. In Munich there were five coaches filming and writing comments on their athlete feedback paper. The culture is about learning new things and interacting in order to optimize their performance. After the comp they talk to the route setters and then they all show up trying to solve the problems again, again and again. At the same time the after party starts, the Japanese have their after climb on the stage in their sneakers. Once their competitors are drinking beers, tape is put on trying to stop the blood in order to squeeze in some more crazy double or triple dynos. "Gamba!"

Looking at the first climb of each grade list, Jim Holloway's Trice in Flagstaff from 1975 sticks out being the most ahead of it's time as it is considered 8A+ today. Totally amazingly, it took 32 years before it got it's first repeat by Carlo Traversi in 2007. Now it is one of the most repeated in the 8a data base with 32 ascents! Jim, born in 1954, started climbing at age sixteen. The 193 cm was one of the first boulderers to devote more than a few hours to creating a particular problem. In 1975 he put up Meathook in Horsetooth Reservoir as the world's first 8A, after some 20 days projecting. He was so serious with his training so he used some wooden rungs at home like a mini campus board. Later the same year he ade the FA of Trice 8A. (c) Pat Ament, who sends his portrait. "Calm, clear, caring, and unselfish, the thin, six-foot-six Jim Holloway climbed for his own pleasure and not to make himself look tall through making small the virtues of others. One spiteful remark heard back then in Holloway days on Flagstaff Mountain was that he eliminated all the difficulty with his tremendous reach. In fact, he and his graceful form were out of reach. He climbed for the right reasons, to experience the creativity, to be with friends, or to be alone, to know the solitude and beauty."

Japan had seven male in the semifinal and all in Top-10, together with #1 Adam Ondra, #5 Jongwon Chon and #7 Aleksey Rubtsov and Jongwon Chon. (c) Eddie Fowke Updated live results