Sorato Anraku, 16, the Boulder World Cup winner in 2023, has secured the overall Lead World Cup title by being 4 - 6 - 3 - 1 - 1 in the first five events. Japan is having their best year ever with six males among the Top-10 and none of them have failed to qualify for the semifinal in any event. Here are the standings before Wujiang in China, the following weekend, counting all but one event.

1. Sorato Anraku JPN 3 300
2. Alex Megos GER 2 695
3. Toby Roberts GBR 2 200
4. Satone Yoshida JPN 1 810
5. Taisei Homma JPN 1 775
Complete results

If Alex wins the last event he will reach 3 695 points but Sorato already has 3 795 points counting five events. (c) IFSC

Evan Hau, who previously has FA’ed three 9a’s, has done the FA of John Doe's Space Adventure (9a) in Planet X. “An extension to John Doe (7b) that I bolted in 2020 but didn't try much until this year as a fun side project. I knew it would be hard when I first bolted it and now I think it's the hardest current route at Planet X.”

Can you tell us more about the FA?
I tried it a little bit back then but there were 2 cruxes that seemed really hard and I couldn't do it at the time. I had other projects to work on as well so I left John Doe's Space Adventure alone for a while. In 2023 I ended up spending some time at Planet X again and I felt much stronger after 2 years of training and working on Fight Club. I got inspired to work on John Doe's Space Adventure as a side project. It took me about a month to work out the beta I couldn't do in 2020 and then still another 2 months to send. Super happy with how it turned out, one of my favourites on the wall!

Matilda Söderlund, who sent The Elder Statesman (9a) in 2019, reports on Instagram that she has done the first repeat of Hannes Puman's Niemisis (9a) in Niemisel. In total, the Swede projected it for some 50 days not including specific indoor training. (c) Bill Hamilton

"The route is about 25 m in total. Starting with two crimpy moderately hard boulders. After that, the crux starts where you climb two hard, technical boulders on top of each other. After that, you have a little rest in a crack/sloper and then continue to the top. I got WAY more pumped than I expected climbing through the crux so it was a big fight to the very end 😊

I built a replica of the route at my gym. I set the two start boulders on the boulder wall and the crux on the moon board (divided into 3 boulders). I also did intervals on the moon board on boulders close to my max level. I’m satisfied with the results of the training 😊 I also feel much stronger in general now than when I first tried the route in 2021."

In 2012, the now 31-year-old was #6 in the World Championship. The same year she also onsighted three 8b's and flashed two 8b+'. Lately, her focus has also included bigwalls up to 8c (b+) and doing an 8B boulder. She is also a co-founder of a big gym in Stockholm, Moumo, and holds a Master's degree in BA from the highest-ranked university in Sweden.

Leo Skinner has sent Paradise Found (8C) in Hartland
, which starts from a ladder just by the sea. "Thought I’d do this quick but ended up having an epic falling off the end like 8 times in the most bizarre of ways. Sleeping in the car and 6am start did the job! First 8C and what a sick one at that."

Sorato Anraku, 16, comments on his gold in the Lead World Cup in Koper. “I was so nervous before my climb, but I tried to put that to the back of my mind and just climb well. After my first Lead gold in Briancon I wanted to carry that on, and I have been training really hard. I wanted another gold in Koper and I have it now so I’m happy.” (c) Jan Virt/IFSC

Earlier this year the youngster from Japan became the overall Boulder World Cup winner and with one Lead event remaining, he has already secured one more title, being the first male winning both disciplines overall in the same year. Talking with 8a in Brixen in June, Sorato said he mainly trains alone or with some locals from Chiba, 1.5 hours from Tokyo. Most of his training consists of bouldering, doing circuits, and sometimes some hangboarding. He does not follow any strict training plan. A couple of times a month he travels to Tokyo to train with guys from the national team.

Janja Garnbret won her 26th Lead World Cup victory and she only needs to be #9 in the last event in China, in two weeks, to secure her sixth Lead overall title. However, she is not registered to participate. “Finally I got my revenge here in Koper. I enjoyed it so much. From qualis to semis to finals, I don’t know if I have ever been as relaxed as I have been in this competition. I enjoyed climbing in front of a home crowd, with the support I really enjoyed, I’m so glad I finally got my first gold in Koper.

I have to say thank you to all the kids for all the screaming, that really gave me extra motivation. I hope they enjoyed our show. I wish they will all train hard and join us one day on the stage here in Koper.”

1. Sorato Anraku JPN Top : Janja Garnbret SLO Top
2. Jesse Grupper USA 42+ : Ai Mori JPN 44+
3. Alberto Gines Lopez ESP 23 : Vita Lukan SLO 40+
4. Toby Roberts GBR 21+ : Chaehyun Seo KOR 38
5. Alex Megos GER 21+ : Natsuki Tanii JPN 33+
Male result : Female result

Marco Zanone has started September by doing Condé de choc (9a) in Entraygues. “This line climbs very well. Really cool and hard moves all the way to the top. Stoked to get back on the 9a range.” (c) Valeria Mutinelli

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Conde de Choc is a route that has always been under my radar. It’s quite short, very bouldery at the start, I think it requires to be bit a boulderer and a bit sport climber. I really like that type of style, the one I probably like the most, so I knew one day I had to try it. This august I climbed in Entraygues more than usual. Did Sankukai in a few days during a 2 weeks stay so I was psyched to try harder.

After a 10 days break, at the beginning of September I returned to France with not a specific goal, because we didn’t really knew where we could have climbed. An epic rain storm hit just before we left home, so the choice was easy. Let’s go to Entraygues that is always dry.

Felt pretty strong on the intro boulder and in the meantime I was working the upper part (that I have already climbed in 2021) to make sure to have everything dialed for the day I will pass the crux. After the first 2 days struggling with the humid, on my third climbing day of the trip, the wind came and everything worked out perfectly. The first time I did the boulder I went to the top 💪🏻

Since June my focus as always been in Ceuse, but summer It’s too hot for me to try at my limit. Now that fall is at the gate I’m super excited to go back there to say hi to an old friend.

Adam Ondra bolted Project Big in Flatanger in 2013. Lately, he has been trying it together with Jakob Schubert and Seb Bouin. Last year, Seb made the FA of the 130m Nordic Marathon (9b/+) in the huge cave and now his focus is Project Big.

Mejdi Schalck, who won the silver at the Boulder World Championsip last month, has done Bio sharma graphie L1+2 (9a) Rocher de Beverau. (c) Arthur Delicque

“I was the 3rd ascensionist of this route after Mathieu Bouyoud and Esteban Daligault my friend. I made it on my 4th session. The route have a first part in 8b+ where you don’t have to be pumped, then you have a pretty good rest and a hard part with 15 physical moves on big underclings 🦾”

In this year's Boulder World Cup the 19-year-old did just three events, scoring two wins and one third place finish. He has also skipped most of the Lead World Cups and his next competition will be the European Qualifier in Laval in October, where the winner will get an Olympic ticket.

Felipe Camargo, who did El Bon Combat (9b) in 2019, has done the FA of Auto Retrato (9a+) in Serra do Cipó. Already this year, he has made the FA of two 9a's including Gran Reserva (9a) which was a ten-year-old project he did last month.

" After sending Gran Reserva I saw a possible harder start and bolted it. Auto Retrato changes the 8a+ intro to an 8b+/c intro, making it way harder so I give it 9a. It's a power endurance route! 50 moves with no good rest...finishing on a really cool 7C+! Really unique holds on the serra do cipó limestone. It took me some 30 sessions including also Gran Reserva."

Can you tell us more about the process?
The conditions never aligned, the season here was really bad this year and I had to try everything...first, I was climbing at midnight with a Makita Fan hanging on the rope! I fell off the very last move and had to go home for a few events ...when I came back, the rain came and it started to get really humid during the night...Today I finally switched my strategy, woke up at 5 a.m. started warming up at 6:20, and had two really bad tries where my body wasn't understanding why the hell I was climbing so early 😂😂 I finally sent the route on my third try of the day at 8:40AM!