Akira Waku repeats Dai Koyamada's former 8C Hyper Ballad.

Squamish Climbing Mag has presented an interesting interview.

Kajsa Rosén has repeated Markus Bock's 30 meter long Battle Cat 8c+ in Frankenjura. It should be noted that she climbed it straight up like FA Markus Bock without escaping out to the jug. In 2016, the 20 year old onsighted T1 Full Equipe 8c (b+) in Oliana. Last year she also won the Youth European Championship in Lead and out of the six times she has challenged the seniors she has been Top-12 four times. The next weekend the Swede competes in the Euro Lead Championships in Campitello, Italy. The great picture by Erik Massih. How is it to prepare for the ECH in Frankenjura? To climb outdoors as a preparation for an indoor competition may not be the best option. Personally, I climb better the happier and more relaxed I am...which I think happens when I climb a lot outdoors. How this kind of "preparation" will work or not still remains to be seen...I'm a bit curious myself I have to say. I simply have to cross my fingers for comp-routes built with lot of one-finger monos :)

Here is the video from when Charles Albert did Monkey Wedding 8C in Rocklands bare foot and without any crash pad. It took "Mowgli" five sessions to take it down. Previously he has done several 8C's including a variation which is said to be impossible for the guys with shoes.

Adam Ondra has, besides two 8C+'s, done his tenth 8C, Krater in Holstejn. "Kind of training lap, but hard nevertheless. Two 8Bs in a row for sure. Blatant + Kra". During the next weekend, Ondra will compete in the Lead World Cup in Campitello. (c) Arto Froute Planet Mountain has presented an interview where Ondra gives details about his 9c project in Flatanger he plans to continue working after the European Championship. "The climb is about 45m long, the first 20m are about 8b climbing with a couple of really really good knee-bars. Then comes the crux boulder problem, 10 moves of 8C. And when I say 8C boulder problem, I really mean it. Actually, it’s the boulder problem that took me the most time to link!" After that there is an upside down knee bar that has gone from bad to OK after a lot of training so now he plans to stay one minute in the bat hang. Then there is a 4-move 8B followed by another rest and then Project Hard finishes of with an insecure 7C boulder on undercling and slippery feet.

Jongwon Chon and Shauna Coxsey won the Boulder World Cup in India which was their second victory in a row. They both also won the semifinal and had secured their gold before they did the last boulder just before the 4 minutes so the event finished in the best way possible. 1. Shauna Coxsey GBR - Jongwon Chon KOR 2. Miho Nonaka JPN - Rei Sugimoto JPN 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN - Alexey Rubtsov RUS Complete results The Japanese domination continued overall and five out of the Top-8 male respectively three out of the Top-5 were Japanese.

1. Shauna Coxsey 480 - Jongwon Chon 398 2. Janja Garnbret 370 - Alexey Rubtsov 365 3. Miho Nonaka 340 - Keita Watabe 332 4. Akiyo Noguchi 316 - Tomoa Narasaki 324 5. Petra Klingler 243 - Kokoro Fujii 280 Complete results Shauna Coxsey has already secured the overall title also in 2017. Among the boys, if Rubtsov wins the last event in Munich, Chon needs to be #2 to beat him. In theory, it is good enough for Rubtsov if he is #3 in the last event, Chon needs to be at worst #10. Also Watabe can win if he wins the last event but then it is good enough for Chon to be #9.

Live streaming from Mumbai in India on 25/6 GMT - 5.30 09:00-11:15 Men and Women Semi-Finals 17:30 Men and Women Finals As Janja Garnbret does not participate as she prepares for next weekend's European Championships in Italy, Shauna Coxsey only needs to #9 to secure the overall title. Among the males, Alexey Rubtsov is in the lead, followed by Chon, Watabe, Narasaki and Fujii who all have great chances of winning. The Japanese continue their domination with seven out of twenty qualified to the semifinal and all ten in the team was Top-25. Complete results

Mike Foley, who previously has done several 9a's, has repeated Chris Sharma's Dreamcatcher 9a in Squamish. (c) Paul Nadler "The end of an era. Decided to make the most of the longest day of the year and drove up to Squamish after work. Tired but psyched, I made solid effort only to fall slapping the finishing jug. After a short rest, I tied in one more time. With a few little mistakes I made it to final rest before the crux. Some deep breaths, a couple power screams, and a split second decision to change some beta and I found myself clipping the chains. This has been my longest and most mentally challenging endeavor of my climbing career. Hands down my proudest achievement. Mixed feelings of relief, excitement, and disbelief . So many thanks to everyone who has helped me along way."

Jorg Verhoeven has presented an article on Facebook where he points out fairness problems for the European Championships in Bouldering as it takes part during the World Cup in Munich. (c) Heiko Wilhelm With the current domination of male Japanese boulderers it just might be that the Euro podium will be decided during the semifinal. Further more, if you are unlucky to end up in a qualifier with many Japanese you could end up as #3 out of the Europeans but still not make the semi. In the other group there just might be seven Europeans qualified. Verhoeven: "In conclusion, there seems to be no way to have a fair bouldering ECH within a worldcup, that's why in my opinion the better solution would be to have no ECH at all." Good point by Verhoeven but I think it is too late to make any changes or to cancel the European Championship. In practice, this unfairness problem for ending up in a tougher qualifier already exist and is part of the game. During the first WC in 2017 Meiringen, the only one in Europe so far, the Top-7 ranked come all from the group B. Yuka Hada from Japan was #11 in group B and if he had competed in the other, not so strong group A, he would probably have made it to the semi. As a matter of a fact, the best guy from group A just did one top in the semi, meanwhile seven in group B did two boulders or more. Another example showing the unfairness with having two starting groups is that Moroni was seventh overall, but nevertheless he had an almost identical result as #10 in the qualifier as #11 Hada from Japan.