Even more male Japanese domination in 2018?

The Boulder World Cup 2018 starts in Switzerland 13/4 followed by one in Russia, China, China, Japan, USA and Germany. A lot of travelling like last year so there are probably not more than 20 male and female who will do the whole circuit. In 2017, the Japanese male dominated with five guys Top-8 and nine guys Top-16. Bare in mind that they were just allowed to send a maximum of nine guys to each WC last year but based on the result from 2017, they will be able to participate with up to 14 guys. Remember also that in the Youth World Championship last year, the Japanese boys got six out of nine medals. The bouldering competition scene is booming and for sure there will be more participants in Meiringen compared to the 115 last year, where Japan had three male in Top-4. What about 140 participants and five Japaneses Top-10? For the full season, with the big Japanese travelling budget and Olympic focus, there just might be six or seven guys Top-10 overall. The picture shows the qualification results from Vail where all the nine participating Japanese were Top-10! What is interesting to note is that their coaches and some athletes have said that they do not follow a strict physical training plan. Instead it is mainly about a team challenge and experimenting jumping around to get the adrenaline. After the last WC event 2017, in Munich, the Japanese male team entered the stage again and tried to repeat the boulders in sneakers with smiling faces, when their opponents already had entered the big party downstairs.