Jernej Kruder, who won the first Boulder WC and was runner-up in the second, did spend December by working on his big 30 meter endurance project in Croatia. "I just think it's a solid 9a+."

"Parkour style dynos challenge special skills and promotes strong physically well balanced bodies. The route setter should have great credit for their innovative and ingenious work! This is all good but a drawback is the increased risk of new types of injuries specifically to shoulders, elbows and wrist. When jumping horizontally the stress on these structures is very high and the sudden stop (most often required) will increase the impact. Even higher risk is introduced when the athletes have short recovery times between attempts and this is magnified when rotating 5 minutes with just 5 minutes rest. Even though I personally like the change of style to more physically challenging boulders, it is not a wise move to let too many boulders in a comp have these kind of moves, especially in succession. In the last EYC in Graz, we even saw a dynamic move with elbow overstretching, causing an injury. Björn Alber Md general medicine & sports medicine, MSDT sports physiology Coach & Team Physician Swedish Climbing Team

Shawn Raboutou reports on his Insta that he has done Duele la realidad 8c+ in Oliana. and First Ley 9a+ in Margalef. Not bad for the 8C boulderer who has not climbed with a rope for the last five years. (c) Matty Hong

There were several complaints from coaches and athletes in Meiringen in regards deteriorating friction for the ones starting last. The reason for this was that the Polyurethane (PU) plastic holds lost their surface friction and did get warmed up faster, in comparison to thicker Polyethlene (PE) holds. During the last years, with bigger holds and volumes, the thinner PU holds are almost always used. What the coaches, athletes, route setters and even officials have said is that in the future IFSC have to regulate the holds so fair conditions can be obtained throughout a competition. One recipe for this is to actually start making the bigger holds and volumes in PE which also will make them heavier. Tomasz Oleksy, one of the most frequently used IFSC route setter the last years, who also set in Moscow and who will set the next one in China, shares his view. - The big advantage with PU volumes is that we can add screw on holds. As a route setter, you always want as many different types of holds as possible but there are often some political and money issues involved. During the qualification I think PE holds should be used in order to create fair competitions.

99: Filip Schenk ITA - Laura Stöckler AUT 01: Sam Avezou FRA - Sandra Lettner AUT 03: Paul Jenft FRA - Naile Meignan FRA Austria dominated among the the girls with two golds and three silvers and for the boys, France was best with nine in in Top-7. By looking at the, complete results we can see that it was kind of hard to get the right difficulty level. In one class, you did get the bronze without getting one top. On the other hand, the level among the ten finalist were diversified with some guys getting all four tops at the same time as two did not get one top. The route setting was in general very modern with actually often parkour, dyno and coordination moves. The Swedish coach and medical doctor, Björn Alber, likes the new style based on volumes and big sloopers, (c) Björn Alber. On the other hand, he is a bit concerned about all the dynos, also horizontal, as the risk for injuries increases. There was at least one bad injury. - One problem was also that there was just five minutes rest in between each boulder meaning that there is no time to recover which increases the risk for injuries.

Pirmin Bertle has added five 9a's and La Cène du lézard 9b in Jansegg to his impressive scorecard. Video with three 9a's in Kochel, out of which two FAs. The father of two small kids is #2 after Adam Ondra in the ranking game. "I bolted the 9b in 2012 and projected it ever since in different variations and during some 30-50 days." More info in his blog and here the projecting video from the wild spot up at 1 800 meters elevation. "Very special, calm spot, pleasant and beautiful. No problems to return there very often. We once met wolves up there and Vultures, Chamois, Marmots, Eagles, Falcons and lots of flowers - Climbing is just a pretext for having a beautiful life". Training at home video on his personally produced authentic rock climbing Lizard holds.

Shauna Coxsey, winner of the Boulder WC the last two years, is skipping the next two Would Cups in China and has instead traveled to Västervik in Sweden. During the winter she had a finger injury and in the two first WCs , she was #6 in both. "So over the next couple of weeks I’ll be spending some time rock climbing and working on feeling like myself on the wall :)" Also Janja Garnbret, who was #2 in the World Cup last year and who has been #2 and #1 in 2018, will not compete during the next four Boulder WCs. In practice, this means that neither Janja or Shauna will have a chance of winning the World Cup in 2018. On the picture by Ned Feehally, Shauna does D+P Combo 8A+ in Västervik. " I surprised myself with a quick send...:)"

Although the best climbers in the world; Ondra, Sharma, Megos and the best competition boulderers of today, have a background on climbing rather then training, we have seen a trend towards following training regimes lately. Magazines, website articles and training books are all over the place and a stop watch is quite normal to see in the gyms. Sure, a strict training plan can be motivating for the experienced climber to take it to the next level but it has also made many youngsters frustrated and even injured, making them stop climbing. The message of today from many of the most successful trainers is to focus on climbing at the same time challenge yourself in as many different sports and climbing styles as possible. The bottom line could be that in order to win the Olympic Games or to have a lifelong climbing drive you have to be focusing on climbing rather then training and performance. On the other hand, it is also about personality, for some a strict training regime is the best way forward. It should be noted that the article has been been sent to some successful trainers who all have said they totally agree on the message: Eric Hörst, Ingo Filzwieser, Reino Horak and Cafe Kraft. Jernej Kruder, #1 and #2 in the two first World Cups in 2018, did travel to Osp/Misja Pec directly he came back from Moscow and yesterday he posted on Facebook. "I don't have a specific training plan, I don't have I diet and before the comps I'm spending time on rocks. Is that make me unprofessional?" (c) Eddie Fowke

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done his 4th 9a Seta Total in Cuenca. © Pamgu Producciones "So nice! Yesterday I failed in the face climbing end and today was time to send haha. 1 weekend last year and this year two, around 10-11 tries in total." In the 8a Combined ranking game, the 18 year old is #2 after Adam Ondra. During last weeks, Jorge also sent one of the first 8a of Spain without the chipped hold Posible Misión 8b+ in Patones and in El Escorial, did El Monstruo de las Regletas 8B, FA'd by Klem Loskot in 2000.

"From the 26th April to 25th May, La Sportiva takes us on a journey through the evolution of mountaineering with a temporary exhibition open to the general public at the Science Museum in Trento." LaSportiva has been producing shoes since 1928 when Narciso Delladio founded the company. Four generations later with the Delladio family, their 90 years celebration party will take place 23/5 in Trento. In 2018, a new production plant will be inaugurated that will double up their capacity.