The first Boulder World Cup in 2023 will take place in Hachioji in Japan, April 21st-24th. At this event, competitors will start receiving points in order to qualify for the Olympic qualification series that will take place in the Spring of 2024. The exact details are not yet defined but it seems there will be 48 males and females that will do four Boulder & Lead events, where the Top-10 (but possibly 12), will make it to Paris 2024.

The first 3 + 3 Olympic spots will be given to the medalists at the World Championship in Bern in August 2023. Then 5 + 5 invitations will be given to the Continential winners in the Autumn. There is also a country max two quota, plus France is guaranteed 1 + 1 spot. Furthermore, the last 1 + 1 spots can be attained via a "Universality" quota. More info.

In practice, the setup will likely encourage athletes from the USA and Japan to focus on the World and the Continental Championships in 2023, due to the quotas. It's also likely that some of the top competitors, such as Ondra, Schubert, and Garnbret, will skip some World Cups in order to focus on the Championships, as they are shoeins for the 2024 qualification series.

Between June 2nd and July 15th, there are three Boulder and four Lead WCs coming up in Europe. Then, two weeks later the Bern Championship starts. It will be interesting to see how the athletes, especially the non-Europeans, will select which comps they will focus on. In any case, it might be that many of the best will skip the Boulder WC in Salt Lake City in May, making it the best event for the others trying to get some "easier" points. The same can be said for the last Lead event in China in September.

Bayes Wilder, who last year did his first 8c+, has been on a three week climbing trip around Lleida where he did 20 routes, (mainly onsight or flash), 7b and harder. In one day, the 11-year-old sent (video) in Santa Linya and Mistic 8c in Margalef. On Insta, here is part of how he described the hectic day.

"After sending La Fabelita, the two facts that it was still early in the day and that I felt strong and fresh made me super psyched to head back to Margalef and get on my other big project, Mistic 8c (5.14b). We went straight to the Cova Soleiada when we got back and I re-warmed-up on a 6c at the crag. Then I got on Mistic and did it on my first try of the day. I was so psyched that I had done both of my projects in the same day. It seemed unbelievable!"

We reached out to his father Matt, who's no stranger to high-end climbing, to give us some more insight.

What does a regular climbing week at home look like for Bayes?
Same climbing schedule of 3 * 2-hour sessions a week with his climbing team. Sometimes he stays after and climbs for a bit longer. We climb as a family an additional 1-2 days a week.

Is he on a home-schooling program?
As far as school goes, Bayes is in regular school. We took him out for 2 weeks and then the last week aligned with one of his vacations. He ended up missing only 9 days of school because one was a holiday. While gone, he still followed along with most of his classes and did the assignments he was able to do remotely.

Loic Zehani has done in Siurana, in just two sessions. The route was bolted by Dani Andrada and then William Bosi did the FA in 2021. "8 ultra powerful movements including one that gave me a hard time going from a small two fingers pocket to a vertical hold. The second part is less hard. Nice little route anyway."

Three days later he also did Wild Publico (9a). ”This route starts with a very steep section on pockets including a dyno on a mono then a resistant section when you reach Pal publico (8c). After a good rest, there is still a hard section with very slight slopers and a nice and easy end at the top of the cliff.”

In total, the 19-year-old has done more than 50 routes 9a to 9b out of which almost 20 FA at his home crag Orgon.

How do the grades in Spain compare with your FA grades?
I would say that it’s quite difficult to compare because even if I put four and three tries for the two 9a's in Spain, both are very explosive routes and far from easy. The only thing I can say about my FAs at Orgon is that I think they are fairly well-graded (within half a degree anyway). For the three 9b’s I proposed I think 2 are well graded « Obsession » in 2019 and « Harlem » in 2022, maybe « Chikane » would be more of a big 9a+.

How long will you stay in the area?
I am currently going back and forth to France but in January I plan to start a few months' stay in Catalonia...

Martina Demmel, who started climbing only in 2017, has done Heim nach Afrika (9a) in Kochel. It is a link-up that first Pirmin Bertle reported the FA, calling it 9a/+. Later it was discovered that Philipp Hrozek had done it more than ten years ago, but never reported it, thinking it was 8c+/9a. In two interesting and very much read-worthy long Insta posts the 21-year-old says that the link-up has been her priority for two years. (c) Felix Bub

"The whole period, I've surprisingly never felt unpatient with myself as it probably was one of the first routes which was in the range of "finding out if it's possible at all & not when"...🙃 totally enjoyed this luckily steady process what makes me curious for more of this soon😁❤️‍🔥!! Falling more in love with this 🧩-solving game by finding all those game-changing bodypositions, chalk-up points, releasing the tension moments and simply remembering it all (what's been more difficult than expected...🤪).

I've to admit that I was quite surprised/sad about how many people were only focused on asking me about my opinion on the grade instead of congratulating or being interested in the story/feelings behind at all...🥺 maybe it's normal but I've never noticed it in such an obvious extent🤷‍♀️."

In 2021, Martina became the first-ever female to have won the 8a annual onsight ranking game. In total, she onsighted 18 routes 8a+ and harder in 2021. If we start from 7c and harder she did a stunning 138 onsights the last year. Amazingly, she did her first 7c onsight when she had only climbed for 1.5 years.

Adam Ondra has onsighted (calling it 8b+) and in Osp - Banje in Babna. "Yees, very proud to onsight it. Possibly not the hardest 9a especially with kneepads, but not a very obvious one to onsight. Super happy."

In total, the 29-year-old has now logged 193 onsights 8b+ and harder but this would have been well over 200 without all of his downgrades. A possible contender for being the runner-up in this onsight list could be Piotr Schab who has onsighted eleven 8c's and 20 8b+'s. The picture is from Adam's Insta with now close to 900 000 followers.

Alberto Gotta has done Hakuna Matata (9a) in Il Cubo, after projecting it for six sessions. Up until 2021, the 30-year-old had done three 8c+ and in 2022, he has already done six 8c+'s and three 9a's. "I'm very Happy about this one. It felt very hard during the first tries but try after try I figured out every move and finally, during the last possible run of the season, everything was perfect and I found myself on the top. One of my proudest achievements so far for sure." (c) Valerio Zenerino

What do you think has been the key to your recent progress?
I think that last year I understood how I personally could train as effectively as possible. Then during this season, I spent more time rock climbing so I had the opportunity to transform all the competition training into rock climbing achievements.

Can you tell us more about your training?
Understanding that I'm basically a weak climber (endurance is more my thing), I focused more on strength-oriented training, keeping the intensity as high as possible. Working all day, I don't have a lot of time for the sessions so this kind of training suits quite well with the available amount of time.

Rollin Grimmett has done Life of Villains (9a). The 30-year-old has only been climbing consistently for eight years and has mainly been climbing outdoors. "Wow, feels like a dream. I worked on basically only this route all of last winter, almost every weekend driving down from SLC. Lost count of how many attempts, but probably close to 80 tries over the past 2 years. So incredibly psyched."

Can you tell us more about your climbing background and the ascent?
I fell in love with the movement and problem solving nature of climbing, and from the beginning, I could tell I was naturally proficient. Efficient movement and even the subtle adjustments needed, all came intuitively. But I wasn't immediately very strong. When I first started climbing, I never imagined I'd send 8a, let alone 9a. I was barely climbing 7a outside. But I consistently improved because I was excited to try harder than what I thought I was capable of. I always wanted to be better, and I surrounded myself with friends who would push me. Each year since my first 8a I would project outside of my comfort zone, and each year I would send a new grade, culminating in my send of 9a with 'Life of Villains' last week. Consistently, I would devote whatever time and effort was required.

The key in sport climbing for me is to be as efficient as possible. I don't usually do much traditional training in the gym, I prefer to just climb. So often in the gym in between new sets, I would "train" by repeating hard boulders I had done before. I feel like that's a great way to learn efficiency in movement. I guess I've been pretty fortunate to avoid most injuries or issues that some climbers might experience when ramping up training too fast.

I first tried 'Life of Villains' (LoV) halfway through the Winter of 2020/21. It was my first full season in the Hurricave, and I had sent Peregrination and 86'd. I was feeling quite fit and was inspired by watching Dru Mack and others try LoV. All the moves on the route felt hard, but I could tell the route suited my style. It was crimpy and required excellent power endurance, my specialty. But I knew it was well above my ability at the time. I would fall over and over in the middle crux, and only once made it through before I fell shortly after.

A year later I returned for the winter 2021/22 season. LoV was my singular goal every weekend for almost 5 months. I was stronger this time but needed better endurance. I was steadily improving, falling higher and higher, even once on the last move. But I made a crucial mistake. I limited myself to only giving redpoint attempts. I started losing power, and began falling back at the earlier crux. By the time I course-corrected, the season came to a close, and it was too warm. Since then, this year has been one of immense growth for me. I chose climbing goals that would challenge me, I focused on routes that would train my power through the summer. I sent Supertweak (first American 8c) with pretty hot conditions in July, and also spent way more time bouldering in the gym to train. When I returned this season, LoV felt like an old friend. Like as if it hadn't been 7.5 months since my last try. But this time I felt way more solid. Everything felt smooth, exactly how you want it to feel. And 2 sessions in I was already falling near the end of the redpoint crux. Last weekend I fell twice in a row one move away from the jug at the lip, and I was pretty confident it would happen soon. I took two rest days (crucial for me on this route), returned Wednesday and immediately sent. I executed everything perfectly, it was so flowy it felt like I was on autopilot.

Sol Sa signs up to 8a by logging in Siurana. "It’s really big moves for me…, it’s like a boulder that was fun, fun."

The Korean has been a very active international competition climber since 2009. In 2018, she got the Combined silver World Championship. In 2020, she did This year, she participated in seven Boulder or Lead World Cups, and her worst result was #33. As a boulderer, she has done three 8A+, out of which in just six minutes in 2020.


What are your next plans?
I have two plans. My first goal is to win a prize in the Asian Games. However, it is possible to be selected as one of the top two athletes in the Korean national competition early next year. If I can’t be selected another goal of mine is to send an 8B+ boulder and an 8c+ route in 2023.

And if you will be selected?
I want to make it to the bouldering World Cup finals. I want to achieve good results in the 2023 Asian Games as well. When I compete in a competition as a national team, I cannot decide on my own when to go outdoors climbing. After the season is over, I plan to go bouldering to Bishop or Rocklands if I can.