Ryuichi Murai has done his fourth 8C this year by Spray of Lights in Rocklands. "I managed to climb this king line after 4days working. Extreme smearing made me excited!!" During the last two weeks he has sent eight Boulders graded 8B and harder and he is #2 in the 8a ranking game. Check out his Facebook account with many short Instagram videos.

Christof Rauch, who did 81 Boulders 8A and harder just last year, has done the FA of The Source 8B+ in Malatal. In the 8a ranking game, the Austrian is #4. "A new Kingline is born! My best first ascent ever! Beside the "Bügeleisen" (new video is out) this is the best line in the valley! Did it on the last go of the day, after falling 5 times on the last hard move. Really surprised myself to stick the last move at this try. Can't be more psyched. Onto the next!"

More info from the new crag with some 800 routes three hours from Athens.

IFSC has experienced some server problems but finally there are the Combined results. What is interesting to see is actually that just a couple of the best male and female participated and none of the best Speed climbers. As an example, Seungwon Cho was close to get the bronze after being 39 - 71 - 37. Regarding the Combined format suggested by IFSC in Paris, the latest news is that they have withdrawn this and they are considering alternative solutions like the one from 8a.

Last year, Tomoa Narasaki was #4 in the Youth World Championship and #30 overall in the World Cup. The Japanese started out 2016 with being #18 and #15 but then something kicked in. During the last six events, his worst result was #2. - I' am so happy about my result and my performance also. My two dreams "World Cup winner and World Champion" have come true this year. I am thankful for all the support. I think my successful result this year is due to changing attitude and environment. I tried to go outside climbing for improving my technical skill. I met a good body training coach last year. I often train how to use my body in the fitness gym. I watched video of Boulder World Cups for learn body position, then I make similar problems to my self. The 170 cm tall and 58 kg heavy guy started climbing when he was ten years old because of his brother. Previously he had been training apparatus gymnastics. Outdoors, he has done 8B+ and he says that he is going for the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 for sure. (c) Eddie Fowke

Adam Ondra was last out on the super spectacular final route and the excitement in the arena was full on. In the end everyone was standing up and once the 23-year-old sticked the last double dyno, he turned to the spectators full of adrenaline and continued to the top. Many of the guys in the live-streaming said it was the best show they had seen. Sport climbing is ready for the Olympic Games. (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit

Based on the constraints IFSC has put forward in regards to IOC demands, here is a simple Olympic format solution. All 20 participants will first do one round of Speed, Boulder and Lead. The Top-8 qualify to the final, which is dependent on the ranking sum. In the final round, all 8 finalists will do all disciplines again and the ranking will determine the medalists. Alternatively, only 6 qualify to the Lead superfinal based on ranking sum of Speed and Boulder. Day 1: Speed and Boulder qualification format Day 2: Lead semi format and appointing who is in the Top-8 Day 2: Speed Final Day 3: Boulder Final and Lead Final/Superfinal The advantage of this simple solution is that all competitors will compete in all three disciplines, which is not possible in the IFSC suggestion. Only minimal additions would be made to the World Championships and Continental Championships, which will count as the Olympic qualifications.

Adam Ondra, the double World Champion from 2014, shares his thoughts on the World Championship in Paris, where he was #1 in Lead and #2 in Boulder. "Additionally, there is finally one Instagram account which is official and truly mine." - My overall feeling from Paris is for sure like a dream. I think the whole 2016 season just worked out perfectly in order to be 100% prepared for Paris. Even though I have been focusing on my outdoor projects, I have been in the strict training regime in between the trips and thus trained indoors a lot anyways, especially in the spring season when I was finishing university. And just those few weeks before Paris, I could transform all the training into the plastic - like being used to the PU holds and style of WC routes and boulders. Every day before Paris my confidence was growing and the last training in Innsbruck was extremely satisfying. Being in Paris, I felt strong and confident every single round and that is obviously incredibly important in order to stay calm relaxed, yet motivated. In bouldering finals, I was slightly disappointed also because I felt so good in the previous rounds and I knew I did not make my best, but of course 2nd place itself is great. So disappointment was mainly about my own performance. It is completely possible that if more big names had made to the finals, I would not have been 2nd. But that is the game. I just think that for semifinals and finals of World Championships, the style of setting could have been more diverse. The boulders were mainly technical and feet were smears. It was not necessarily bad for me, I actually like technical problems, but in my opinion, the World Champion should be decided on wider range of problems. But it was bit of a problem of the bouldering wall, which was bit too much vertical/slabby, so the routesetter must have had hard time to set more diverse problems. Lead was just a fairy-tale story. I was a little afraid that I would be a little tired, climbing 5 days in a row, but it did not really affect that much. I think I just got so fit due to the PUC training. I felt a little tired on the warm up, but as soon as I started climbing in the final route, I just felt great. The route was very nice to climb, with different sections and making that final dyno and enjoying the crowd going crazy just before making the easy topout - it was a lifetime experience... Unforgettable... (c) Eddie Fowke catching the moment once again.