Pepa Šindel, who did his first 9a+ at age 14, has sent Pornographie (9a) in Céüse. "Low percentage move to a 2 finger pocket than an endurance finish. Done without knee pad and at 34°C ☠️"

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
The main goal of my stay in Céüse was the legendary Biographie 9a+, but than I changed my mind at the last moment and tried Pornographie 9a. It is a 20-meter power-endurance line on small crimps. The main difficulties lie in the difficult intro, hard crux where it is very difficult to stick a low percentage move to a two-finger pocket. This is followed by rest and an endurance finish. The whole time it was terribly hot in France, every day the temperatures exceeded 33°C and the micro crimps just do not stick in such conditions... Last week I fought for a send every single try and fell after the crux due to a lack of endurance or often due to a fatal mistake. That's why I'm glad that I was able to climb the route even in such weather.

Everybody knows the feeling of not knowing how to solve a crux, and good beta saves the day. This is why we’re excited to launch Beta Videos on Vertical-Life web!

What's New?

• Beta Videos: Easily upload and share your climbing beta videos to help others in the community. Whether you're working on a new project or want to offer insights, Beta Videos are a great way to share and find beta.
• Unified Photo Gallery: Now you can upload photos both on the web, and in the Vertical-Life app (when adding ascents), providing a seamless experience across platforms. Share your climbing moments and discoveries effortlessly.

Go to the Beta Videos section, upload your video and tag the route or boulder. You can add a description to provide context and details, and you can be certain that you’re eventually going to help someone send :)

Upload your favorite beta video here

The point scoring system in Paris, including the two zones in Boulder, proved to be both easy to understand and fair. The best overall Boulder & Lead climbers ultimately secured the medals. The scoring at the Tokyo Olympics involved multiplying the results of the three disciplines, which heavily favoured winning a single discipline over consistently strong performances across all disciplines. It's likely that in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, there will be three separate sets of medals. Here’s how the medalists would have been determined in 2024 using both the Tokyo and LA scoring systems.

Tokyo multiplication scoring if used in Paris
1. Janja Garnbret 3 - Sorato Anraku 5
2. Ai Mori 7 - Adam Ondra 7
3. Brooke Raboutou 10 - Jakob Schubert 10

Los Angeles three sets of medals if used in Paris
Boulder
1. Janja Garnbret - Sorato Anraku
2. Brooke Raboutou - Colin Duffy
3. Oceania Mackenzie - Toby Roberts

Lead
1. Ai Mori - Adam Ondra
2. Jessica Pilz - Jakob Schubert
3. Janja Garnbret - Alberto Gines Lopez

In front of 7000 screaming spectators, Janja Garnbret secured her second Olympic gold and started crying. Before the competition, she had said that the pressure would be lower in Paris, as she had already won in Tokyo, but this was possibly her biggest emotional reaction to winning a competition. Also, runner-up Brooke Raboutou and the bronze medalist Jessica Pilz were crying and the atmosphere in the arena was truly electric. It must be said that the Olympic climbing has been an amazing success throughout the competition with great route setting and scoring system, and also thanks to the loudly cheering spectators.

Sorato Anraku was last out in the Lead final with Toby Roberts sitting in the gold chair. The 17-year-old hesitated a bit also in the 360-rotating campus move facing the spectators. Fighting his way up securing first the bronze and then the silver, he fell three moves below what was needed.

The camera focuses Toby who does not understand what has happened but as his team, including his father, is screaming and jumping he realizes he got the Olympic gold. All the 7,000 spectators were cheering for him and the event was yet another success for competition climbing and IFSC. Noteworthy is also that Adam Ondra was tied for #1 in Lead, together with Jakob Schubert, in possibly his last international competition ever. Schubert got the bronze overall as he also did in Tokyo.

Noé Looser, who last year won the European Youth Lead Championship, has done Erntezeit (8c) in Vorarlberg. The 17-year-old started climbing at age 9 and two years later she did her first 8b followed by an 8c at age 13. "I had much fun and climbing outdoors is good for me to keep my motivation high for the next competitions and the training indoors. It's a route with two boulders and a rest position between these boulders. It was uncomfortable and hard to clip the top."

What is your next plan?
My plan for 2024 is to compete in China at the Youth World Championships in bouldering and lead, the European Youth Championships, and the Swiss Championship in lead.

Piotr Oleszczuk, who two weeks ago flashed two 8B’s in Rocklands, has done Spray of Light (8C). ”My first 8C, still can’t believe it happened. I had to come up with a completely new technical beta for the second part since I struggled with the toe hook switch and releasing the toe with my foot in my face, being almost 190 cm tall. It took me 5 sessions.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
First of all, I'm soo happy to finally achieve a goal I've been working towards for the past year. Over the last two years, I've built a solid pyramid, sending eight 8B+ problems, so topping it off with an 8C feels like a perfect reward :). I'm particularly proud that it took me less than four years to progress from my first 8A to sending my first 8C.

I arrived in Rocklands with a plan to try an 8C boulder, feeling pretty strong despite some finger issues just before the trip. My initial goal was to try Monkey Wedding, which Piotrek Schab sent last year. Unfortunately, I found it particularly difficult because it was very bunchy and small-box oriented, and I'm not exactly the smallest climber o ut there. I gave up on that pretty quickly and decided to focus on Spray, which seemed more suited to my style.

As for the boulder itself, it took me five sessions to complete. I managed to do all the individual moves in the first session, but I had to figure out my own beta for almost every move, as I might be a bit too tall for the original close-toehook switch beta and the final cutloose with a foot in my face. During the next two sessions, I started linking the moves together and completed the whole climb without the first three moves. The third move, involving a very painful finger lock, was especially challenging and left me with open wounds on the tops of my fingers after about ten tries.

Fortunately, everything changed during the fourth session, when I was climbing with Zach and Nathaniel. Having them on the same bloc somehow motivated me to pull harder on the painful crack, which helped me unlock the third move. At that point, I knew the whole boulder was doable and I just had to keep it together and send it with only two climbing days left on the trip.

On the second-to-last day, after two hours of fighting and one fall from a 7A ending, I finally managed to link everything together and send it!

IFSC has published comments from the three medallists: © Drapella/Virt/IFSC


#1 Garnbret: “I was really scared because my finger got stuck in between two holes (of a hold) and I couldn't get it out. So I was scared that I had fractured something, and I already fractured exactly this finger ten years ago. I was scared I did it again, but I had so much adrenaline that I didn't even care. I said to myself, 'I don't care if I'm missing a hand or a finger, I will go out there and climb the route. It doesn't feel broken. I can move it. I will check when I come back to Slovenia, but I think nothing too serious.”

#2 Raboutou: “Being in France, being half French, and having my French family out here, and the support from the crowd, I did feel it.

This was just the dream. We [I and Janja] have an incredible friendship, where we both want each other to do our best. That's what happened today, and it feels really good to share that with somebody. To share that connection as both a friend and an idol is incredible. I look up to her so much, and I'm so grateful for the support she's given me as well.”

#3 Pilz: “I just feel comfortable on the Lead wall. I feel comfortable there and always much more excited. You don't know exactly what's coming. But in the Lead, I knew that if I climbed as easily as I did in the semi and could simply deliver my performance, then I could go far. I'm just happy that it worked out that way.”

IFSC has published comments from the three medallists: © Drapella/Virt/IFSC

#1 Roberts: I've got no words. I'm just riding on adrenaline right now, but I feel incredible. At that point [Anraku climbing] I already knew I had won the silver medal, so I was really happy anyway just watching him. Then to realise that I had just become Olympic champion, I was just: wow, no words."

#2 Anraku: "I'm sad, and I regret that I could not make the best of Boulder & Lead. At the third and fourth Boulder I could not reach the top. In the Lead my feet weren't stable enough, which started in the middle of the route. But I'm still proud of myself."

#3 Schubert: "I am extremely proud that climbing is at the Olympic Games for the second time and that I have my second medal. That's something very special. And at the same time, I have the feeling that the Boulder round frustrated me extremely and there was a lot more possible for me today.

The big goal was gold or silver, and I'm a little bit hesitant about that, but I just can't complain because I know how difficult it is to win an Olympic medal."

The Speed final was a spectacular show with several very tight races. In the bronze final, Sam Watson set a new world record with 4.74. Then in the final, Veddriq Leonardo won over Peng Wu with 0.02 seconds, both setting new personal bests. Previously, Wu had won his quarterfinal with 0.002 seconds.