Jakob Kronberger, who did his first 9a more than a year ago, has done two 8c+'s in Arco, Bucking Bronco and Warbeast, suggesting 8c for the latter as it went down quickly.

Stefano Carnati, who was #19 in the Lead World Cup in Villars, has done his fourth 9a of the last year, Le Cadre Nouvelle Version in Céüse. "Three weekends. Three hard sections with good rests in between." Including also his 9a+, Goldrake and having won the Youth World Champion twice, it is easy to say that he is a contender to be the most promising teenager out there. (c) Eddie Fowke

Megan Mascarenas has flashed her fifth 8A, Eternia in RMPNP. Interestingly, this high class Boulder was reported as an 8B a couple of times some 15 years ago. "Such a fluid climb! And toe hooks at the end? Yes please!" The 18-year-old has participated in five Boulder World Cups since 2015 and her worst result is #4. In the 8a ranking game she is #3.

Alex Megos reports on Facebook that he has done his second 9b, Fightclub. - The first day in Canada 2 weeks ago Sonnie Trotter bolted this line in fear I wouldn't have enough projects to do. Now, 2 weeks later after working on it for 5 days and even taking rest days I finally got it!!! FA of "Fightclub" 5.15b (9b), the hardest route in Canada to date and my 2nd 9b!!!

(c) Parker Alec Kross from Crossroad studios

Margo Hayes, who earlier this spring did two 8c+'s, has done the first female ascent of Bad Girls Club 9a in Rifle. "Hey boys, I'm joining the club. Officially a bad girl." The 18-year-old made her first headline five year ago, doing her first out of three 8A boulders. Last year, she was #6 in a Boulder World Cup and got silver in both Lead and Boulder in the Youth World Championship.

Dave Graham, one of the very best rock climbers in the world of the last 15 years, reports on Facebook that he has done Monkey Wedding 8C in Rocklands. Here we present the beginning of the story. - Last weekend I finished off one of my ultimate-global-nemisis-projects, the legendary @fred_nicole problem Monkey Wedding [8C] which chills in the center of one of Rockland's most popular sectors. Last season I tried the boulder quite a lot, for at least 12 days, but could never seem to improve my highpoint, or do better than one hang the beast, which is only ten moves long. This year I returned partially uncertain of whether or not I could even summit this small peak, my confidence dashed by last years failure. Right off the bench I discovered more intelligent beta, resequencing my old crux, and matched my previous links. Sadly the war continued for another 6 days. I was confused by the conditions, normally cold weather is my jam, but my cursed sweaty fingers never seemed to stop sweating while I sat at basecamp, about two meters from the start of the rig, amidst all types of cold blustery weather, but it was always smarmy and humid somehow. One day, my window presented itself; super hot and a northerly wind, directly from the dry deserts of Africa, I felt something, potentially like an opportunity.

Jonathan Hörst - First Ascent of "Valkyrie" ~5.14a from Training4Climbing on Vimeo.

If Alexey Rubtsov wins the final in Munich, he will get 407 points at the same time as Tomoa Narasaki will reach 409 if he is last and #6 in the final. Kokoro Fujii was #8 in the semifinal so he has ended up at 395 points, meaning that he will be #2 overall if Alexey does not win. It is noteworthy that the 20-year-old was #30 in the Boulder World Cup 2015. I It is also interesting that from the semifinal France had four guys in Top-10. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke Among the female, Shauna Coxsey had already secured the overall title before Munich, where she was #2 in the semifinal. Melissa Le Neve has a chance of being #2 overall if she wins and Miho Nonaka is #3 or worse. Live streaming of the final starts at 18.30.

Tomoa Narasaki won the seventh and last stage of the Boulder World Cup and, in fact, his worst result during the five last World Cups is #2 place. Last year, the 20 year old Japanese was #30 and he started out 2016 being #18 and #15. 1. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 465 - Shauna Coxsey GBR 560 2. Kokoro Fujii JPN 395 - Miho Nonaka JPN 460 3. Alexey Rubtsov RUS 372 - Melissa Le Neve FRA 368 4. Jongwon Chon KOR 342 - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 352 5. Rustam Gelmanov RUS 270 - Monika Retschy GER 236 Shauna Coxsey's worst result out of six events was #2. Last four years she has been 2 - 2 - 4 - 3.