Sorato Anraku, 16, the overall Boulder World Cup winner, won the title also in Lead, in dominating fashion, by winning the last three events. In fact, the 16-year-old was so dominant that he would have won by a large margin had he only done the last three events. Alex Megos was runner-up after having been Top-5 in four events, out of the six he participated in. Taking into account also the bronze Megos won at the World Championships, in August, 2023 was his best competition year ever as a non-junior competitor. Fifth overall, Toby Roberts, also just participated in four WC events, which also hurt his overall ranking. Complete results

Jessica Pilz, who won two World Cups and the World Championship in 2018, is the 2023 overall Lead World Cup winner. Janja Garnbret was runner-up after having won the only three events she participated in. If the Slovenian had been #15 in one of the three remaining World Cups in 2023, she would have won. Also, Ai Mori, #4 overall after Vita Lukan, who got the bronze, only participated in three events being 2 - 2 - 1. If she had been #3 in one event she skipped, she would have overtaken Pilz. Complete ranking

Ryuichi Murai did the 8m tall Livin' Large (8C) in August and here is the 8a news including comments from Murai.

Jennifer Wood, who was #11 in her only Euro Cup in 2023, has done the FA of Paklinski Waves (8c) in Hvar. The 27-year-old did her first 8c this summer after previously only having one 8b+ in her bag.

“I’d never heard of Hvar until I saw they had a climbing festival there a couple of months ago! I did some research and it looked so good! Big caves full of mouthwatering tufas! I saw there were quite a few projects too so found out a little, checked they were open projects etc. and got stuck into one 2 minutes from our back door! It’s a really cool line, a pumpy tufa intro into a compression boulder followed by some crimpy squirming. I’d been told the route was thought to be around about the 8c range by people who had tried it previously and for me it definitely felt like the hardest route I have done by a little way so I think 8c seemed fair.”

What is your climbing background?
Largely a comp climber on the GB national team. But I love my annual trips to Kalymnos. I’ve done a few less comps this year though so got psyched to get stuck into harder stuff outdoors and branch out from Kalymnos. Funny that the climbing in Hvar was actually pretty similar!

Team Japan set a new standard winning five medals in the Lead World Cup in Wujiang, China. Sorato Anraku and Ai Mori were dominant winners and there were five males and four females from Japan in the Top-6. Among the women, Jessica Pilz was #2 and the Austrian also won overall. The runner-up among the men was Shion Omata. Bronze medalists were Natsuki Tanii and Taisei Homma. © Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC

Anraku, 16, who had secured the overall victory prior to Wujiang, comments on his third Lead WC win in a row;
“I’m just happy to win another medal here in Wujiang. I’m frustrated not to top the route though. I have the Asian Games next week so I will try there. I love climbing and I don’t want to stop. I’m going to carry on forever.” Complete results

Mori, who won the gold at the World Championship in August, comments on her victory;
“Before climbing I was very nervous, but now I’ve won I’m very happy. I feel a lot of pressure, mostly that I put on myself, I just don’t feel confident. But if I don’t have confidence in myself I can’t win, so I have to tell myself a lot I can do it.” Complete results

It should be mentioned that many of the best climbers from USA and Europe did not participate.

Martin Tekles has repeated Jorge Diaz-Rullo’s Patanics (9a+) in Rodellar. Recently, a hold in the crux has been partly broken on the 50m endurance route. ”Such a long beast! I would go for 9a+/b in my opinion. On to the next.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I started working on Patanics in May. After sending No pain no gain (9a+) in October last year it was kind of logical to try this route, as they both have the same middle part and crux. But the lower part (Pata Negra) and the upper part (Botanics) are different. In May I focused on the lower and upper part. I worked my way up by sending Pata negra (8c) and Pata-tral (8c+) two other variations. But conditions weren't good many wet holds or too hot. So I came back now and after some days with good tries, I could do it today. A huge mental battle to fight through this 60-meter-long beast. Conditions were amazing today so pretty happy that it turned out like this! You can use the picture, it's by me 😅

How did you manage to get the picture by yourself?
The photo was from last year. I climbed up and tied the GoPro with a piece of rope onto a quickdraw, looked for right position and then climbed down a few quickdraws. After a short rest, climbed the sequence and that how a got the photo 😅

What is next?
I have to search for new stuff, probably in Santa Linya or Margalef. Checking some routes for winter. Routes like Stoking the Fire (9b) or First Round First Minute (9b) look amazing 🤩

Yannick Flohé, who won the Brixen WC in 2022, has repeated Daniel Woods’ classic La force tranquille (8C) in Magic Wood.

”I tried La Force on the first day of the trip after I sent New Base Line and did all the moves quickly. I couldn’t really try though due to classic Magic Wood rainy weather. From then on I tried it two more session but it got worse every day. I feel like Magic Wood in September is either way too warm or wet.

On the 4th session I managed to dry all the holds with a fan after a heavy rain and basically sent the boulder. Unfortunately the slab at the end which is about 6a was still super wet and I had no chance to top out so I came back on the next day and climbed it all the way to the top. I fell only once after the heel hook move and about 30 times at the beginning when my heel slipped after doing the big move to the slot. Anyway nice boulder I’ll come back one day for the direct finish from Jakob.”

"Silver lining is a great highball! A long-standing project in Finland that was finally put up by Andy Gullsten back in 2020. When I returned to Finland in 2021 I had 2 days on it on top-rope trying the sequences. 6 pads weren’t for me enough, so I knew I had to return more prepared. Last year this line was in my mind as much as the other ones in the movie. Finding it dry isn’t simple, but that day I was lucky. I spent the whole session alternating top rope attempts and ground-up goes, growing my confidence in the fall. Surprisingly, at 5 o’clock, everything worked well! I had 10 pads :) logistics was crucial!

I love to return to Finland. I like the vibes, the settings and the variety of rock. There is so much to visit around Helsinki and with a bit of driving effort, you can climb some world-class problems. It’s really spread out and this is personally another good feature which makes travelling there unique!"

Giuliano Cameroni, who has made the FA of at least 20 boulders 8B+ to 8C+, is pictured in the latest great Mellow video sending three 8B+/8C'; Peace Corps, Flip the Switch (FA) and Solar Plexus (FA).