Paige Claasen, reports on Insta that she has done the second ascent of Jonathan Siegrist Algorithm 9a in the Fins. In total, it took her eight days to send the 40 m almost vertical wall. Paige, who was #14 in the Bouldering World Championship in 2007, has previously done both 8c+ as well as 8B. Here is a great Beth Rodden interview from last year where she talks about her life in Colorado and South Africa. "I started Southern Africa Education Fund because I firmly believe that education is the only path out of poverty."

James Webb, one of the best boulderers in the world, has done his first 9a, Dreamcatcher in Squamish. "I’ve had many goals throughout my climbing but this route has always stood out to me among the rest. Huge props to @chris_sharma for establishing one of the most aesthetic lines you’ll ever see." (c) Kevin Takashi Smith

Daniel Woods has added some 60 ascents to his scorecard which now includes 1 182 ascents. In total he has done 22 boulders 8C's and 3 8C+' and one 9b which he did this year. In the Combined 8a ranking game, he is #2. Although just 29 years old, he has been one of the best climbers in the world for 12 years straight. In 2010, he won the Boulder WC in Vail and another three times, he has stood on the podium. (c) Matty Hong

The European Youth Bouldering Championship was a great success with excellent route setting throughout the competition. All but one boulders were topped at the same time few made all tops. In the oldest male category, Filip Schenk, starting last as he won the qualification, had to flash the last boulder to win, which nobody had made before him. Overall, France and Slovenia did dominate as they normally do. 99: Filip Schenk ITA - Mia Krampl SLO 01: Sam Avezou FRA - Lucka Rakovec SLO 03: Cruzitis Edvards LAT - Naile Meignan FRA Complete results

Margo Hayes created history in February 2017 by becoming the first woman to do 9a+, through La Rambla in Siurana. Later she did another 9a+ classic, Biographie in Céüse. (c) Matty Hongy Here is a high class 28 min documentary - Do not miss it! Now she is in Innsbruck for the World Championship and her next goal is Tokyo 2020. Here is an 8a training interview after she had done La Rambla.

The World Championship in Innsbruck will be the first big test prior to the Olympics in Tokyo 2020. The good news is that almost all the top names will try out Combined*. First they compete as normal in the three disciplines and based on the overall multiplicative ranking, the Top-6 will move to the final and do all three disciplines again. Here is a speculative ranking. Who is missing and who should be higher up? 1. Tomoa Narasaki - Janja Garnbret 2. Jakob Schubert - Miho Nonaka 3. Adam Ondra - Akiyo Noguchi 4. Jongwon Chon - Claire Buhrfeind 5. Alex Megos - Jessica Pilz 6. Yushiyuki Ogata - Jain Kim Contenders: Kokoro Fujii - Stasa Geio Jan Hojer - Brooke Raboutou Mickel Mawem - Ashima Shiraishi Manuel Cornu - Alex Puccio Bassa Mawem - Petra Klingler Jernej Kruder - Manon Hily Domen Skofic - Sandra Lettner Meichi Narasaki - Laura Stöckler Kai Harada - Anna Tsyganova* Aleksei Rubtsov - Margo Hayes William Bosi - Vita Lukan Rei Sugimoto - Mei Kotake Yannick Flohe - Ekatarina Kipriianova Sean McColl - Sol Sa The only big stars that will not do the Combined is Stefano Ghisolfi, Romain Desgranges, Anak Verhoeven and Fanny Gibert. *Anna is a Speed specialist who has been #2 in a Speed WC in 2018 at the same time she has been #23 in Lead and #29 in Boulder. Her Combined results, among the ones doing all three disciplines, in Innsbruck could be 1 * 20 *30 = 600, which probably would get her in Top-6. If she makes the final, she would probably get 1 * 6 * 6 = 36 which beats 3 * 4 * 4 = 48. As a matter of a fact 36 points could actually be enough for getting a medal, but first she has to make it to the Top-6 final which is less likely.

Kim Marschner, who previously has done just one 8B+, has in just six sessions taken down Spray of Light 8C in Rocklands. More info on his Insta. Part of the reason why he is lacking ascents in his grade pyramid is probably due to his focus also on competitions the last years. This season, he once made it to the semifinal in a Bouldering WC.

1. Janja Garnbret 2 - Jernej Kruder 3 2. Miho Nonaka 3.1 - Tomoa Narasaki 3.5 3. Akiyo Noguchi 3.2 - Jakob Schubert 4 4. Fanny Gibert 4 - Jongwon Chon 5 5. Alex Puccio 10 - Adam Ondra 6 6. Stasa Geio 18 - Rei Sugimoto 10 Contenders: Katja Kadic, Petra Klingler, Ekatarina Kipriianova, Jessica Pilz - 15 Gregor Vezonik, Kokoro Fujii, Yushiyuki Ogata, Alexsei Rubtsov - 12

Aidan Roberts reports on Insta that he has done Monkey Wedding 8C, four 8B+ including one FA, as well as 16 8B's including the flash of Master Key in Rocklands. Remarkably, the 19 year old had previously just done one 8B+. ”I think the reason for this was simply I did a lot more training and was stronger than before. Rocklands compliments this as the problems tend to be a little more simple, if you are physically strong enough, you will do the problems pretty fast. I've been getting back into plastic mode for Innsbruck now and feeling like I'm getting into the flow a bit more. Rocklands wasn't ideal preparation for this comp but i had such a great time, it was totally worth it! I plan to keep on competing next year but in the mean time, get back into training and go on some trips around Europe to get some good hard boulders done.”

Jernej Kruder, the overall Boulder World Cup winner 2018, reports on Facebook that he has spent the last three days projecting a new five pitches mix climbing without success. "The hype is high, but I guess I'll have to focus on World Championship first. Line is going to wait." It should be mentioned that Jernej focused more on rock climbing and less indoors this year, which made him go from a Top-10 boulder competitior to become #1.