Michaela Kiersch sent La Rambla (9a+) in January after trying it for only ten sessions. Here is the 8a interview with the Doctor in hand therapy. Overall, her combined ticklist makes her a contender for the best female outdoor climber as of now. At the age of 15, she made her debut in the World Cup and was #22. The next year, she was #18 in a Lead World Cup.

Marine Thevenet did Compass North (8B+) last October, 8a report, and Clément Lechaptois repeated Fuck the system (8C+) in November, 8a report.

Maximilian Dauser has done Nice freshly baked (9a) in Frankenjura. It shares the start and the middle section of Shangrila (8c+) which he did in 2021. (c) Thomas Dauser

"The start of my big 9a project was after sending Shangri-La, as it didn't feel like my absolute limit and I was curious about that process. Previously, my sole goal was doing Shangri-La, which itself was a new level for me.

The process of about 1.5 years around sending Nice Freshly Baked is very special to me because I could prove to myself that I can still push my limit at climbing whilst having a family with a toddler and a baby and pursuing my career as an attorney. The greatest challenge was to create a proper balance between those three goals in life (and deal with being regularly sick - as probably all parents of little kids). Sometimes you want to put a goal last, like I didn't climb outside for about half a year around the birth of my daughter last September. And sometimes you want to prioritize the climbing part, so I tried to create enough time for a second day of climbing per week at the project when the conditions were good in the last weeks."

"The route itself starts with a hard boulder problem and continues with about 12 moves of power endurance climbing up to another boulder problem with a low percentage large move to a hidden hold and two more hard moves. Afterwards, it is basically done. I already got up to that large move regularly last year but couldn't stick it in most attempts. I even fell a couple of times at the next move. In the end, all pieces fell together and I could climb Nice Freshly Baked."

Oriane Bertone, who has won 17 IFSC Youth competitions and been runner-up in the World Cup five times, won in Prague ahead of Janja Garnbret. Both scored 34 but Oriane used only four attempts for her tops meanwhile Janja needed six tries. The French competitor easily flashed the slab, which the Slovenian athlete was not close to sending it. On the more powerful boulder, it was the opposite situation. Flavy Cohaut from France got the bronze in her first World Cup of the season. Previously in 2023, she has done three Euro Cups winning twice and getting the silver in one. Complete results (c) IFSC

Bertone commented to IFSC: ”I knew I had to take the zone to win[on W4], and when I did, I saw my coaches go crazy, but I wanted my competition to be complete, so I had to stay concentrated. It was amazing, one of the best feelings I ever had. I love Flavy, she’s my friend and my teammate, and I’m so happy to be on the podium with her!”

Outdoors, the 18-year-old has one of the best female ticklist, having done her first 8c+ route and her first 8B/+ boulder at age 12. Her is an 8a interview from this spring.

William Bosi sent Alphane (9A) last November after projecting it a dozen sessions. "A few sessions back I was unsure as to whether Alphane would go on this trip, the temperature has been unseasonably hot, some rainy days had made it really humid and the route was damp in places. However, the crew out here managed to keep the psyche really high and the problem came together quickly. The moves on this line are so good and after a lot of time on the wall, I was really happy to claim the third ascent!"

Bosi stopped a successful competition career in 2021. His best boulder result was a bronze in the World Championship in 2016 and in Lead, he has twice been #4 in the World Cup.

Dohyun Lee from Korea, #7 overall last year, got his first World Cup victory by winning in Prague, needing only five attempts to do all four boulders. The runner-up was Adam Ondra (CZE) who used 13 attempts for all problems competing in front of his home crowd. Mejdi Schalck (FRA), who won the first two events this spring, got the bronze flashing three boulders. Interestingly all six finalists represent different countries. The fourth spot was claimed by Yoshiyuki Ogata (JPN), followed by Yannick Flohé (GER) and Jan-Luca Posch (AUT). Complete results (c) Jan Virt/IFSC Ondra commented to IFSC: "It’s been so nice to be back on the circuit, especially in my home country. It’s been 13 years since the last World Cup event in Czechia, and the only one I participated in was in my hometown of Brno, when I was 16 and I barely missed the final, it was so frustrating, so this is a good revenge!"

Lilli Kiesgen, who last year sent her first three 8A+'s, has over two days in Zillertal managed to send five 8A's; Clockwork Orange (8A), Analdin und die Wunderschlampe (8A), , and . The 26-year-old is a former competition climber who was #9 in the World Championship in 2016.

Can you tell us more about the five 8A ascents?
We spent two days in Zillertal on our way from Innsbruck to Prague. I’m just on vacation in Prague and cheering for Yannick ☺️. The day didn’t start that well, we parked the van in the wrong parking spot and were pretty lost for an hour. When we finally reached the crag I started to warm up directly in the moves of Clockwork Orange. Surprisingly they didn’t feel hard and I could climb the boulder on my second try from the bottom. Afterwards, we went to Analdin - a real gem in the Forest! The holds and the line is just perfect. It took a bit until I figured out the moves around the sloper in the middle section, but I was still able to climb the boulder within an hour.

We were tired of walking around (and climbing!) so we did a break, cooked some tortellini and napped a bit. In the afternoon I just wanted to take a look at mother firestarter. I got hooked and climbed it after a really short warmup. I think two essential things got together yesterday, I was in the right mood and the conditions were good - not too warm and not too cold.

True romance is right beside the river and has mainly crimps. I figured out a beta with a toe hook so I don’t have to do the powerful extension move. Jam Session is a roof with some heel hook moves and a crimpy top out. The main crux was for me the far move with a bad foot over the edge. None of the boulders I did took long- I think that is essential if you want to climb a lot in a day.

Why do you think you are in such excellent shape?
I think my fitness increased so much because I started to train my weaknesses - steep walls with far moves on good or slopy holds. In the last year, I mostly trained on spray walls and on the Kilterboard and I think that is paying off now.