Janja Garnbret, the Lead overall winner in 2017, was superior in the Boulder World Cup in Chongqing, winner of all three rounds and topping all 13 boulders in a superior style. Runner up was Shauna Coxsey who overall did ten boulders. Among the males, Jongwon Chon #4 in the Boulder World Cup last year, won both the semifinal and the final and in fact he had to do the final boulder twice as he misunderstood how to top out in his first try. 1. Janja Garnbret SLO 4t11 4b7 - Jongwon Chon KOR 4t6 4b5 2. Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t4 4b5 - Tomoa Narasaki JPN 2t2 3b3 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 3t13 4b13 - Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 2t2 3b3 Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

1. Alexsey Rubtsov 145 - Shauna Coxsey 180 2. Kokoro Fujii 137 - Janja Garnbret 147 3. Jongwon Chon 128 - Stasa Gejo 102 4. Keita Watabe 120 - Miho Nonaka 102 5. Tomoa Narasaki 89 - Petra Klingler 94 Complete results Interesting fact is that Japan has four guys within the Top-6. Only Shauna, Stasa and Keita have made it into the finals in both events.

Philipp Gaßner, who did his first 8c+ when he was 14 years old, has done his second, Pain makes me stronger, every day! in Frankenjura. "The route fits my style pretty well because it's short and bouldery with pockets. I just needed a few tries to stick the crux move that is a little dyno to a good pocket and to send the whole route. After my finger injury in 2016 I want to climb outside as much as possible. In summer my plan is to travel to Rocklands and the psyche is already high so let's see."

Klemen Becan did 60+ WC before he won in Kranj 2008 being 26 years old. On rock he has also enjoyed late blooming and with three 9a+' the last year. With several 8c onsights he is already among the Top-3 in the world. One was actually 8c+ but has gotten down graded and he has been close on several 8c+'. "Still my main goal is to onsight 9a hopefully also this will come one day as well, if not I will just enjoy the journey. I was close to one 9a in Cuenca some time ago.", where he actually placed the quick draws. (c) Anja Becan How many sessions did you need for La Rambla and how was the process? I gave it one try 10 years ago and now I was trying it since the beginning of the year. Could maybe have done it faster if I would be focused only on this one, but where is the fun in that? Too many cool routes around here to do only one at a time :) How can you explain your late progress on comps and rock? Well I never thought I was a bad competition climber. Yes, I could have a better results but that is another story. Also I think the focus was never a big problem since even if I was "just" climbing I was still "training" more than many people. Not with written program and blindly following someone but with many tests and trying what is best for my body. Now I still don't have a training plan. It's all in my head and apparently it works. I know enough to train myself.

Iuliia Kaplov won the first stage of the Speed World Cup and in the semifinal she set a new Speed record by 7.46. Among the males, Vladislav Deulin won but the fastest time was done by Danyil Boldyrev at 5.62, just 2 split seconds after his world record. It might be that a new auto belay system is part of the reason for the very good times also in general. High light video Interesting fact is that no Boulderer, besides Sean McColl, at 8.45, did any fast time. (c) Eddie Fowke

gregor vezonik, who was #31 in the first Boulder WC in 2017 and who has done more than ten 8B boulders, has done his first 9a, Aikula in Burjakove peci which is his local home crag. (c) Rok Klancnik "The line was bolted 20 years ago by my uncle and Uros Perko got the FA. Then some holds broke and then Domen Skopfic did it two years ago. I tried it for the first time six years ago as a joke. Then a couple of times later. Started working seriously on it three years ago and almost sent it two years ago when I was trying it with Domen. Last year I probably had four sessions on it and this year I did it on my second session. It has been an incredible journey and feels good to finally tick it off."

Janja Garnbret az összesített győztese a 2016-os nehézségi világkupa sorozatnak (és második boulderben), most egyértelművé tette: nem sikerült rosszul a téli felkészülés, nyugodjunk meg csak az antistyle boulderek és balszerencse találkozását láthattuk az április eleji svájci bouldervilágkupán, amikor #6. helyezést sikerült elhozni. Janja fölényes győzelme valamit sejtetni látszik abból, hogy Ondra után a nőknél is lehet egy olyan sportoló aki boulderben és kötelesben is el tudja kenni adott évben az aktuális világ élmezőnyt, ne adj isten megnyerheti az összesített világkupát is mindkét versenyágban. De mit szól majd ehhez Ashima? Egyelőre semmit. Férfiak között Jongwon Chon szuperált, aki megnyerte a középdöntőt és döntőt is. Lehet hogy az önfényezés és önünneplés dicsfénye helyett kicsit jobban kellene figyelni a szabályokra, az egyik döntős utat kétszer kellett másznia, mert félreértette a Toppolást. Bár emellett az eredmény mellett ez bőven belefért. amit viszont egyértelműen ki lehet jelenteni az a japán egyeduralom. A férfiaknál a középdöntő 20 résztvevőjéből 10 Japán versenyző.... 1. Janja Garnbret SLO 4t11 4b7 - Jongwon Chon KOR 4t6 4b5 2. Shauna Coxsey GBR 3t4 4b5 - Tomoa Narasaki JPN 2t2 3b3 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 3t13 4b13 - Aleksei Rubtsov RUS 2t2 3b3 Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

Japan participated with ten males in the Boulder WC in Chongqing in China and all of them were Top-17. In practice this meant that several of the top guys did not make it to the semifinal; McColl, Gelmanov, Sharafutdinov, Stranik, Bonder, Kurder, Skofic and Levier. (c( Eddie Fowke Now the females do their qualification, follow the digital results. On Sunday there will be live-streaming starting with the semi at 09.30 and the final at 18.00 GMT+8.

Adam Ondra reports on Instagram that he has done two impressive FAs in Camaiore; La Terza Eta 9a which he did in four tries and Naturalmente 9a+. "One of the best routes I can imagine. Slightly overhanging wall, tiny crimps, undercuts, shitty feet, resistant, bullet-proof rock. Tried for two days three weeks ago, now it went down after checking the moves. Rather high-end 9a+ I would say." The level is going up in 2017 and Ondra is leading the pack. During four days, the 23 year old has done two 9b's, two 9a+' and two 9a's. It will be interesting to follow the progression during 2017.