Melina Costanza does Eclipse SDS (8B)

Melina Costanza, who did her second 8B+ last month, has completed Eclipse SDS (8B) in Little Cottonwood. In September, the 25-year-old got the bronze in World Championship, which was her first IFSC Boulder competition since 2022, where her best result was #21. (c) Alex Johnson

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I went out with AJ who has tried the stand start a few times. The kneebar sequence felt awkward, but very learnable. I think people struggle with the pogos at the top, but those moves didn’t prove too cruxy for me, probably because of my comp background. Was able to send both the stand and sit pretty quickly in one session!

What are your competition plans for 2026 and what is the background story for not doing any Boulder WCs for three years and then getting the bronze in the WCH?
I hope to do a lot more world cups in 2026! I was focused more on lead the past couple years. I was planning on doing the whole World Cup season this year, but tore my LCL and only recovered in time to do world champs. But I’m very excited for more bouldering competitions!