On the second day of the Youth World Championship in Dallas, Youth B had their boulder qualification. Among the Male Youth B only seven Europeans made it to the semifinal and the best was #7 in the qualification. Among the girls, Anastasia Sanders from USA was the only girl who topped all six problems at the same time 53 % did not make one top. Complete results Youth B.

In the Female Juniors semifinal, only the winner Zelia Avezou made two Tops and most of the girls did not make any Top. Among the boys, 18 out of 20 made at least two tops. It should be mentioned that during all rounds in Dallas, the girls have topped out significantly fewer boulders compared to the male.

Antoine Girard has repeated Nalle Hukkataival's classic, in Rocklands. Video on his Insta.

"It was in 2019, during my first trip to Rocklands I saw Finnish Line for the first time. I found this line amazing, it was, without doubt, the most beautiful boulder I had ever seen. When I left South Africa, I promised myself to come back and try this bouldering when I will be strong enough. With COVID, 3 years passed without me being able to put my fingers in this boulder. I had to wait until August 2022. I arrived in Rocklands with this unique objective of climbing the Finnish Line, so I put everything in place to realize this dream. I organized all my climbing sessions around this project, trying to not invest myself too much in other hard boulders in order to keep skin and strength. I spent 9 sessions in the block divide in 3 weeks. It is a boulder that requires really important logistics. Falling is almost forbidden on the last two meters of the boulder, so I started all my sessions by repeating, again and again, the end of the boulder which must be worth 7B. Then I put tries in the crux (still with rope) and I ended my session by putting 4 or 5 tries from the bottom. The complexity of bouldering lies in the fact that the holds are extremely sharp, which considerably limits the number of attempts at each session and at the same time it is also very difficult to try this boulder every single day. All these constraints together allowed me to try the crux about 10 times per session and to put 3 sessions per week.

This is clearly the boulder that required me the most physical and mental investment. The apprehension of the fall was very difficult to put aside during my first good attempts falling after the crux, the sensations are clearly different without the rope. During the sending session, I did not feel very good on the rope but finally, the sensations came back quite quickly as soon as I started from the ground. I managed to pass the crux on the second try of the day by catching the left hand perfectly. It was the perfect try to top the boulder and not falling for the sixth time after the crux. The end of the boulder went pretty well. My 40 roped climbs of the last 8 movements allowed me to move forward with confidence despite the big shot of adrenaline that made me shake on each move. In the evening I went to Quintessential, an 8B realized in 4 tries, nothing better to end this incredible day!"

Angie Scarth-Johnson, who previously has done two 9a’s, has sent Pornographie (9a) in Céüse. (c) Adri Martinez

”It is such a beautiful route, it almost feels like it was set by a route setter. The first time I tried it was last year in July, i loved it from the very first try and I started the process of projecting and training the moves in the gym and on the wall. This year I made it one of my big goals and after I did Victimas Perez (9a) I was really motivated to come back.

After I arrived back in Ceuse for the second time I jumped straight on the route and saw fast progress, a lot faster then last year. I finished my preparation and confirmed my betas and after a few weeks in this season I sent the route! Now I am looking to try some other great routes here before I head back to Australia for a month.”

The Australian has been a life style globetrotter since age 9 when she did her first 8b. "I started climbing when I was 7 years old, not long after I began climbing outside in the local crags after school with my dad. When I started climbing, competitions weren’t really a massive thing and I wasn't really interested in it anyways. I enjoy the challenges that came with climbing rocks and the process of projecting. When I was 9 years old my parents planned our first overseas family trip to the United States. By this point, I was totally in love with climbing and it was mostly all I thought about. My parents suggested we could maybe stop by and visit some outdoor crags in the states to try out the climbing in another country. This was extremely exciting for me, with Australia being pretty far from the rest of the world, climbing in another country was a big deal."

The Youth World Championship in Dallas started yesterday with the boulder qualifications, which featured tough boulder problems for the girls. The event will continue through Aug 31 but there will be no live streaming. You can follow the results in the IFSC App, "WC Series". IFSC has published a report including also some quotes from some youngsters.

In the Female Juniors, nobody topped all boulders and France got three in the Top-5. Almost 35 % of the girls did not do any top. In the Female A, Sara Copar was the only girl to top out all six problems at the same time almost 45 % did not do any boulder.

Among the Male Juniors, five boys topped out all boulders and some 20 % scored zero tops. In Male A, seven boys topped out all problems and only 12 % failed to complete a top.

Loic Zehani has done the first repeat of Daniel Jung's Jamais Deux Sans Toit (9a+) in Mollans after trying it a dozen times. The 20-year-old has done 58 routes 8c+/9a and harder which puts him as #8 on that list.

"The route starts with a not too hard approach until a big hold. Then there is the first crux with crimps and small tuffas. After this crux, there is a good knee. Then there remains a last crux on crimps and pockets in a good gray overhang. Beautiful line 😍😍😍."

Shawn Raboutou has confirmed the 9A FA rumor of Alphane we published in June. Grade-wise, Dave Graham has said, "Alphane moon is more like a two move 8B+ into a long 8C+ boulder."

Remember that rumor also said that Shawn has done the FA of yet another 9A, The Megatron project in Eldorado Canyon - A seven moves 8C low start, with zero rest, into Daniel Woods Tron 8B+ put up in 2017.

Dylan Chuat did Thor's Hammer (9a/+) in Flatanger, two weeks ago. "Waaaw, what an amazing line!!! The holds are so beautiful, the effort and the line are just amazing! Just a pity that the beginning is always wet." Marco Müller, a 9a+ climber, has made a great film of Dylan's ascent.

Andrea Chelleris, who last year did an 8c+/9a, has done San ku kai (8c+) in Entraygues. "I spent 10 days and maybe 20 tries, I thought to do it before but I had problems with the heel."

The 13-year-old did his first 8b+ at age 9 and he is also a competitive skier who last year won the Italian Championship. Last year he also did his first 8a+ onsight.

How did it go this year in your skiing and climbing competitions?
In skiing, I won a FIS Children Cup in Slovenia called Pokal loka (it's an international competition). In climbing, I won the boulder Italian championship.

Have you been close on an 8b onsight?
Yes, 2 times. I did Albaretto (8b) in 2 tries in Bosco Verde and I did Helikopter v omaki (8b) in 3 tries because I missed a heel.

Sebastien Bouin has the last month done four routes 9a+ or harder in Flatanger, including the 130m long Nordic Marathon and Adam Ondra's Change (9b+) from 2012. Three years ago he repeated Ondra's Move (9b) from 2013. (c) Marco Müller

Seb, who is honest and outspoken about grades, has published more reflections on Insta, giving credits to Adam who did not use knee pads doing the FAs.

"I did the First Ascent (of Nordic Marathon) during this recent trip (before sending Change). I proposed the grade 9b/+. This route is 100% my climbing style. Still, it was hard to give a grade for such a long route. So, to compare these three routes. I will take into consideration, the time, climbing style, and feelings on the process and send."

Interestingly, Seb thinks that Move is the hardest and suggests a personal upgrade to 9b+ at the same time he thinks Change was 9b/+ for him due to the use of knee pads. In other words, it might be that in the history books, La Dura dura (9b+), from 2013, will be considered the first 9b+ in the world as Adam did the FA of it six months before putting up Move.