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Is it not strange that during the qualification and semifinal in Boulder World Cups, the athletes have only five minutes to rest? Just compare it to 10 - 25 minutes of resting time in the final. It is like having two different kinds of formats and challenges in one competition. In the first two rounds, the guys with the best endurance are picked out but in the final, the power is much more challenged. It is like saying that first we take the best from running 1 500 meters but in the final they only run 800 meters. Please read below about a new format suggestion with 12-minute-long rest in the qualification and the semi, which would make these challenges as similar to the final one as possible.

The finalists with the qualification results in brackets: Tyler Landman (9), Alban Levier (3), Alexey Rubtsov (5), Jakob Schubert (15), Jorge Verhoeven (13) and Martin Stranik (19) Janja Garnbret (9), Clementine Kaiser (15), Melissa Le Neve (1), Megan Mascarenas (3), Akiyo Noguchi (1) and Shauna Coxsey (5) Complete results

During the start and the end of the semifinal there is only one climber on the wall, which means a lot of waiting and less action for the spectators. It would be easy to let the first four start at the same time on the first four boulders and then we could have two more groups before the first four moves to their next respective boulder. This would mean that instead of giving the athletes 12 minutes of rest in between trying about 30 times on four boulders, they would have 8 * 3 minutes rest. An advantage for longer rest is that the competitors do not have to be so strategical saving energy during their four minutes sessions and it will be more a Bouldering challenge than an endurance one. Power will be more important! Such format would also make it possible to increase the semifinal to Top-24 and to shorten its duration to 96 minutes instead of 104 minutes for Top-20. Do you think we need more action and more rest for the athletes?

The French team has been on a training camp in Cuenca and they seem to be in a great shape as both Gauthier Supper, #2 in WC 2015, and Romain Desgranges, #6, did El Intento 9a. In fact, Desgranges did the 30-metre-long route in just three attempts, which took him an hour. So does that mean that you could do a 9a+ in some tries and a 9b after some projecting? Probably!

The first Boulder World Cup highlighted the fact that it seems hard to win starting last in the final. Tyler Landman and Janja Garnbret won the semifinal in great style, and especially Janja was just superior, but in the final Tyler was last and Janja second-last without having done a single Boulder. Final starting order in brackets. 1. Alexey Rubtsov (4) - Shauna Coxsey (1) 2. Martin Stranik (1) -Melissa Le Neve (4) 3. Jorg Verhoeven (2) - Megan Mascarenas (2) 4. Alban Levier (5)- Akiyo Noguchi (3) 5. Jakob Schubert (3)- Janja Garnbret (6) 6. Tyler Landman (6) - Clementine Kaiser (5) Complete results Interesting is that Alexey only participated in one World Cup last year, and he won. In 2009, he won the World Championship when he was #6 in the semifinal, i.e. first out in the final.

I follow a strict training scheme but I don't know how many rest days I should take and how to prepare on the scene and just before going for my project? Everyone and all projects are unique so there is no universal rule. I would say that 2-3 resting days are optimal where you can stretch, run, etc. On the actual day, try to warm up using the same type of climbing and holds. Hang-dog the route and make sure you are fully recruited but do not push so as not to get pumped. You can start the warming up process at home including possibly hang-board exercises and stretching. Before climbing, possibly ask your friends to help you remind you certain things you might forget like breathing, chalking, resting etc. In the last minute, go into your bubble and set your focus on enjoying the fight and going for a personal best instead of just visualizing clipping the top. An old article with 10 redpoint tips. Thanks for all questions. Please keep sending them to [email protected].

Gudmund Grønhaug has done the FA of Blodspor 8c in Ekne, which he bolted eleven years ago. Ekne is located two hours south of Flatanger and there are some 130 routes at the spot (topo), half of which were bolted or had FAs by the Norweigian. Five years ago, Adam Ondra tried the vertical route and said it might be an 8c and since then the 43-year-old has gone all in. Adam had been invited to Flatanger by Gudmund, who was one of the pioneers of the giant cave. "Due to rheumatic chronic pain in the knees, hips shoulders, and worst of all, the low back, I need to train something everyday. 3 years ago a mix of events gave me inspiration to train harder and more structured. My book (climbing injuries) was almost finished, we were due to leave the area and move south and I had a lot of pain. I found the inspiration for everyday structured training in this project and the prospect of being able to get out of bed and make breakfast for me and the kids without having to sit down and have a break at least once due to pain. The last two winters I found a method of combining training to reduce pain with performance enhancing training without spending to much time training. “Luckilly” my pain gives me no time to rest and stop training so I train something almost every day. Obviously this pays of! I now have less pain, fever extreme pain periodes and a new (possible) personal high point concerning climbing grades."

After one month of projecting Stephane Hanssens has done Ramon Julian Puigblanue's La Reina Mora, which seems to have been upgraded from 8c to 9a. The Belgian focused on comps as a youngster, then he did some expeditions and now he is back with a focus on sport climbing and World Cup comps. His best results in 2015 were #13 in the Euro Bouldering Championship and #9 in the Imst Lead WC. (c) Guillaume Lion "This is by far, the path which asked me the most efforts. Really happy and what amazing line. Thank you to all the people who helped me in this project."