Markus Jung has done his third 9a in Frankenjura, Black Label. "Such a good climb! Doesn't feet soft for the grade. Had to struggle with the first boulder. Harder than Essential (which I also climbed on a hot summer day).

The first male qualification route in Chamonix was topped by 46 athletes and the second route got 23 tops. Overall, 22 climbers topped both routes which is a new IFSC record since the World Cup was started in 1989. During the semifinal, we did not see any tops but three + three guys had the same results, meaning time will be used to split these guys if they get to the same hold in the final. In other words, we just might see the climbers try to climb faster than normal during the final. Complete results The female semifinal starts 11:00 tomorrow and it will be streamed-live.

Loic Zehani has recorded his third 9a FA in Orgon, Les mollahs du mollard, which took 15 tries. Video "The route was bolted by Olivier Bert in the most overhung part of the Le Bergerie sector, located in Orgon. The principal difficulty of the route is the stamina first 30 moves. The last part is very easy. The other difficulty is to clip all the quickdraws because of the old wall of a sheep-fold just under the route."

Vadim Timonov, who has been Top-20 in the last three Boulder World Cups, has done his second 8C, Triangular face in Triangular Lake. "This is my long-standing project over which I worked for two years. About 18 powerful moves on very small crimps. Until recently, I thought it was impossible to climb in one part." The Russian's next plan is the European Championship and after that doing a trip to either Albarracin or Magic Wood.

Adam Ondra is getting closer to do his Project Hard in Flatanger, speculated to be the first ever 9c, by doing the FA of Move Hard 9b. "Good training link up. From the first crux of Move move right into the crux 2 of Project Hard." This was the third 9B FA in Flatanger which can say have the highest concentration of hard core routes in the world. Previously, Adam has also put up four 9a+'s and one 9b+ FA. (c) Petr Pavlíček

Even if it is just three years until the Olympic Games, and possibly just 24 months until the qualifications start, the interest among the best World Cup climbers are very low for Speed. In the last VC in Villars, not one high ranked female participated in Speed and only a couple males where only Jan Hojer showed good form. What's interesting is that Jan Hojer was #4 and Alexey Rubtsov #18 in Lead. Previous Youth World Championships have shown that the youngsters are more interested and also that they in general are better Speed climbers. It just might be that half of the 20 + 20 males and females competing in Tokyo will be relatively unknown teenagers of today. New not established top climbers to look out for might be; Sasha Lehmann, Filip Schenk, Pietro Biagini, Claire Buhrfeind, Elena Krasovskaia, Laura Stöckler, Eva Maria Hammelmuller, Andrea Kumin, Nathan Martin and Sam Avezou (16) on the picture (c) FFME) who was #18 in the European Championship last month. Last year he did 7.47 in Speed and is by that superior to all Lead and Boulderers in the third Combined discipline. Three more years and it could be he and Ashima Shiraishi taking the golds in Tokyo. Among the girls Elena Krasovskaia (18) is fastest with 9.49 and in the World Championship in Paris last year she was #29 in Lead, #6 in Bouldering and #20 in Lead. As it stands, she should also be a contender for standing on top of the podium.

It is well known that you should not top rope directly in clip-in anchors as they wear out and thus are dangerous if they not are replaced. At the same time, it is hard to find an easy way how to put up an anchor that unexperienced or kids can remove simple and safe. The picture shows a possible solution for cases with the rope always in the clip-in carabiner. Removing is done by grabbing the quick draw and first take out the red carabiner. Then the quick draw can be removed. It should be pointed out that the best solution is to thread the rope in the anchor ring. As the ring rotate it takes much longer time wear out. Please suggest other possible solutions how to create a simple and safe top rope in a clip-in anchor.

Filip Schenk, who has won two Euro Youth Cups this year and was #16 in the European Championship, changed arena to Magic Wood where he flashed Jack's broken hear 8A+ and did another six boulders 8A to 8B. "In this period full of competitions we decided to go one week to Magic Wood to have also some fun on the rock and relax from the comps. I went there with a list full of projects that I could try. Now back to the comps!" The next comp that is coming up is a Euro Youth Cup in Bouldering where he won the Championships last year. The big goal is the Youth World Championship in September where he was #3 last year. As he already can do the Speed in around nine seconds, means in practice that he will be faster than most seniors going for the Olympics. (c) Pietro Biagini, who was #4 in the Combined and who did eight boulders 8A and harder during the same trip.

Alex Puccio is really kicking it with seven 8A to 8B during the last two weeks. Yesterday she did three 8A's in RMNP and the day before, No More Greener Grasses 8A+ in Mt Evans. "What a day! Nina convinces me to wake up at 7am to do a early session at Mt. Evans, thought she was crazy, but it worked out!"

Alex Megos report on FB, with a nice picture from Natacha Jagd, that he has done Monkey Wedding in Rocklands in just 30 minutes. "Did try it 3 years ago for half a day but thought I was too weak. This trip it didn't feel very hard at all! Totally suites my style I guess. Super excited for more! "