Delphine Chenevier, who, over the last year has done her two first 8b+'s, has sent Little Kings (8b+/c) in St Ange. The 47-year-old did her first 8b more than twenty years ago and in 1999, she placed #6 in a Boulder World Cup. More info at Fanatic climbing.

Mejdi Schalck, who did his first 9a at age 16, won his second Boulder World Cup last weekend in Hachioji after also becoming the French Champion last month. The 18-year-old was kind enough to answer a few questions the day before the Seuol World Cup. "I’m managing everything including media contacts by my self and sometimes it’s not easy but that’s a good thing for growing I think." (c) IFSC/Dimitri Tosidis

What are the boulders you like the most and excel at?
Coordination for sure because I really like feeling this "coordination flow" between the holds. For sure I like all dynamic stuff but I also really like boulders with pinches and I start to be stronger with time.

How did you train last winter?
I trained way more than in past years. Due to the new combined format, I needed to have more volume and be generally stronger. I did also a lot of lead at the beginning of the year for trying to level up and prepare for the second part of the season. But yes, during some periods I did more strength and other resistance efforts. I think I really progresses because I was really consistent in my motivation every day and serious in my training.

In a normal week I rest on Thursday and Sunday. I have;
- 2 general physical preparation sessions
- 2 specific physical preparation sessions.
- 3 bouldering sessions, one on a spray wall, one on hard boulders after work and one focused on quality.
- 2 lead - 1 cardio - 2 stretching - 1 slab training

In some training weeks, I only do 10 Lead sessions. In total, I train 20-25 hours a week. The most important is to always keep the passion and the fire you have in you.

Do you have a training partner for all your sessions?
My coach Victor Larzul is always with me on my sessions, and yes I train with Paul Jenft [who was #3 last weekend] since 6 years and we train around 3/4 a week together.



What are your goals for 2023?
My biggest goals for 2023 are the world champs in Bern and to try to qualify for the Olympics games, but the World Cups are also very important and I want to perform well in every World Cup I will do.

How much have you been able to climb outdoors this winter?
I went to Ticino for 10 days in November [where he sent Off the Wagon (8B+)] but I didn’t really take another moment for going outside. This year it will be quite hard to go out, I will try to take one or two weeks maybe after the World Champs. But after the Olympics I want to take a long period to go out, 3/4 months and try some cool projects! :)

Do you go to school and what are your other interests?
I stopped school until the Olympics because I wanted to focus 100% on it. I like video games etc ahah :) but not other huge interests.

In the first Speed World Cup in 2023, in Seoul Korea, Leonardo Veddriq from Indonesia first set a new world record in the quali with 4.98. Later in the quarter finals, he ran up the 16 m 6b+ route at 4.90 winning his fifth World Cup event. In 2012, the WR was 6.07 and further progression has happened since 2021 when the WR was 5.48. Kiromal Katibin, also of Indonesia has broken the WR six times, but in Seoul, he slipped and recorded a 5.73.

In women's speed climbing, Alexandra Miroslaw, from Poland, set her three WR's and her fastest was 6.25 recorded in the final. Her first WR was set in 2021 with 6.87. Miroslaw, who has won four golds at Euro and the World Championships since 2019, was #4 in the Tokyo Combined Olympics.

Overall, this was the fastest Speed climbing competition ever with all Top-16 males sub 5.43 and females sub 7.41. (c) IFSC/Dimitris Tosidis

Marine Thevenet, who has already completed around 90 boulders 8A and harder, has done the Dave Graham classic Delusion of grandeur (8A+) in Chironico, Insta video. The lawyer is due to stop working soon, so there might be even more headlining ascents in her near future.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I tried the boulder last year a little bit but at that time I couldn’t find a doable sequence for the start; I am too short for the « standard beta » and couldn’t keep the heel hook for the big undercling move. I am really happy to be able to find another séquence and when I did this séquence, I did thé boulder 😊

Maya Ene, who did her first 8b+ at age 11, has sent Southern Smoke (8c+) in the Red River Gorge (KY), video on her Insta. Earlier this spring she did, and flashed Serenity Now (7C+) in Red Rock (NV). (c) Francois Lebeau

Her family owns a small climbing gym in New Jersey, and her father Ionel (48), who finished his World Cup career in 1999 by being #19 in Speed and #43 in Lead in the World Championship, reports to 8a.

"Having fun at Red River Gorge: While Maya climbs a lot indoors at various gyms, her big passion is outdoor sport climbing. She trains every other day; there is no particular routine that she follows other than alternating bouldering and lead. My wife and I are both long-time climbers, so we are the coaches as well as the teachers (she is homeschooled) and parents. Sometimes this can be a little bit overwhelming for her (hearing the same two voices over and over) so she really enjoys any other company as well. Maya loves climbing with other people no matter their age, to encourage them and help them figure out beta.

In February this year, we spent about 10 days in Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas. Bouldering in Red Rock definitely helped her with the finger strength that she needed for all the sends in Red River Gorge. We often have trips to the Gorge where we meet other families whose children are also passionate about climbing.

Maya worked on "Southern Smoke" for about 3 days and on one of her send goes she fell right before the chains. Surprisingly, that motivated her even more and the next day she was set on doing it and not using any knee bars. The same day her good friend Logan Zhang (12) sent Zookeeper (8b+) on his second go and the day prior he sent Omaha Beach (8b+). We also witnessed Gaeun Kwon (9) from Korea crushing Ultra-Perm (8b). The bond between the kids is just precious.

After belaying Maya on "Southern Smoke" I got motivated to send the route next to it: 50 words for pump (8c) which I sent a week after Maya's send. Overall, it's been an amazing trip and a very strong spring!"

Austin Purdy has repeated James Webb's The Multiverse (8C) in Neverland. Webb put it up as an 8B+ in 2014 and it took eight years until it was repeated with an 8C upgrade suggestion, which seems to be the consensus now. "Psyched! Hardest thing I've done in a while. It's possible Jimmy had the right idea with the grade, but it did end up putting up more of a fight than I anticipated."

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Multiverse has been this sort of mythical boulder since Jimmy's FA in 2014 and there wasn't much information about it other than that it was supposed to be really good. Last year Daniel Woods and Taylor McNeil made the trek out there and confirmed how hight the quality was. After seeing their efforts I got really excited to go try the boulder but was not able to make it out there until this spring and had to brave some pretty frigid conditions to climb on it. Luckily though Multiverse lived up to it's reputation which made it all worth it!

It took me 4 sessions in total. I think the most challenging part of the boulder for me was how resistant it was. None of the moves felt particularly hard in isolation but linking the first half of the boulder together felt very physical and low percentage to me and then you still have to fight hard to get through the second half to the finish.

Iris Matamoros Quero has done Fabela pa la enmienda (9a) in Santa Linya. In his logbook, where he's recorded 700+ ascents, his fine form this year is on full display.

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I was trying the route last year, I was very close but it got wet and then the heat came... it was my main objective for this year. We usually come for 3 or 4 weeks at this time, santa linya is perfect with small children. I wanted to train very hard to get back in shape, but the previous two months were very hard at home, sick children who didn't let us sleep, I had the flu and lower back pain... so I couldn't train almost at all, I arrived at Santa Linya in very poor shape, but luckily things here went well and after training on the route and with a day of good conditions in which everything went well I was able to send the route! 😊💯

Steve McClure sent Le Voyage (8b+) in Annot last month. "One of the best in the world. 8b+. Enough gear, but spaced and pumpy to place. It feels like a real adventure. 40m long too! Just a couple of days and first lead effort seems like my usual adopted style of only just getting it, with the odd section still barely worked out!" Here is the full 8a interview with the 52-year-old.