Janja Garnbret, who has not competed since she won the Boulder WC in Meiringen in April, won in Innsbruck showing her superiority. Reaching hold 27, she rested and hesitated for 45 seconds. Looking down and checking the clock the spectators salute her and she waves back and after one more chalk up she goes for the cross-over dyno footless move and as she controls it the crowd goes wild and Janja smiles as she understands that she probably will win again. Then she continues ten more moves. Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC

Commenting afterwards she said, "It’s good to be back! I think it was a good decision to skip Boulder comps, I could come back refreshed with a fresh mind, so I really enjoyed the weekend. I won’t lie, I was nervous because I haven’t done a competition for so long, but I enjoyed the whole weekend and it just feels so good to be back. I need to thank the routesetting team because they did an amazing job. I love hard routes and especially after semi’s was too easy, we got something completely opposite – probably the hardest route I’ve ever climbed on the World Cup circuit! It’s amazing and I hope this continues the whole season, she was nervous but that it was a good decision to skip the Boulder comps."

1. Janja Garbret SLO 38+
2. Chaehyun Seo KOR 27+
3. Brooke Raboutou USA 27+
4. Laura Rogora ITA 27+

The ranking 2 - 4 was decided by who climbed faster and it should be mentioned that Chaehyun also was the one being closest to scoring 28. Janja loved the very hard route but for the rest of the field, it actually looked too hard.

Overall, the 23-year-old has now won 21 of the 39 World Cups and World Championships she has participated in.

Courtney Arnold has done Pink Lightening Ultra (8B) in Priest Draw. "Guess I just needed those good midday temps. Soooo pscyhed!!"

The 22-year-old has previously done five 8A+, all of them in the last 13 months. In the 8a ranking game, she is #8. Surprisingly, she only started climbing in 2016 and it was not until 2019 that she began climbing outdoors. The picture is from last year when she did her first 8A+, .

Janja Garnbret, Laura Rogora, Brooke Raboutou, Jessica Pilz and Chaehyun Seo topped the semifinal route in Innsbruck. These were also the five Top ranked in the qualification. Natalia Grossman, Natsuki Tanii and Vita Lukan did also make it to the final.

Among the male, Ao Yurikusa from Japan and Jesse Grupper from the USA reached 45+ and climbed the highest in the semi after having been #6 respectively #11 in the qualification. In his two last Lead World Cups, they were #8 and #10 respectively was #5 and #7. The others making it to the final were; Colin Duffy, Jakob Schubert, Luka Potocar, Yannick Flohé, Taisei Homma, Alex Megos and Satone Yoshida.

The women's final start on Sunday at 19.00 followed by the men's. Photo: Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC

Chiara Hanke reports on Insta that she has done in Frankenjura. "I have to say that this route felt relatively easy for me, compared to the routes "Psychotherapie" 8c and "New Orleans Heavy Weight Division 8c, which I climbed both a few days ago. I personally would suggest the grade 8b+/c, but I would like to point out that the difficulty is very subjective and I don't want to devalue the incredibly cool climbing or the performance of others in any way or form. " (c) Cristoph Hanke

In 2019, she become the first female in Frankenjura to do a 9a, Sever the Wicked Hand commenting. ”I started climbing at the age of 13 after a shoulder surgery. Before that I was passionate about wakeboarding. Actually I just wanted to get fit for wakeboarding again quickly. A climbing hall had opened around the corner from me at the time. That was so much fun for me that I stayed with it. Then everything went very fast: competitions, member of the national team, more competitions. I didn‘t get to really climb outside until the end of 2017, when I started climbing again after a knee injury lasting almost 3 months. That was a lot of fun for me and motivation! In 2018 I only climbed outside besides training. Wallstreet was certainly a highlight of it. For me it was and still is important to climb many routes and climbb in general. I really don't like to try routes to often. Then I have the feeling not to climb any more and I miss just doing moves."

Natalia Grossman topped the four boulders in five tries in Innsbruck and won her fifth consecutive Boulder Cup. As in Brixen, two weeks ago, Hannah Meul from Germany got the silver, and she was actually just two tries behind. Miho Nonaka was the best among the three girls from Japan in the final and got the bronze by doing two boulders but no more zones, showing the superiority of Grossman and Meul. Photo: Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC Complete results

In the boulder national team ranking Japan got 20 783 points which can be compared with 15 223 for USA and 10 176 for France. Japan has dominated the boulder competition scene since 2015. Among the male, they set a new record, getting all the three podiums and overall they had eight males among the Top-19. Team USA was runner-up also in 2021 but previously they have very seldom been among the Top-5.

The country that dropped the most in the 2022 ranking is Slovenia and that relates mainly to that Janja Garnbret did only participate in one event, which she won. Complete ranking

Natalia Grossman had secured the overall victory after the World Cup in Brixen. Then she won her fifth straight World Cup by winning also in Innsbruck. Here is the final ranking. (There is a Lead and Boulder World Cup in Japan in October but this is a Combined event)

1. Natalia Grossman USA 5 000
2. Miho Nonaka JPN 3 210
3. Brooke Raboutou USA 2 940
4. Futaba Ito JPN 2 560
5. Hannah Meul GER 2 345

6. Oriane Bertone 2 316
7. Jessica Pilz AUT 2 215
8. Stasa Gejo SRB 2 195
9. Camilla Moroni ITA 1 820
0. Chaehyun Seo KOR 1 770

Jordana Agapito has done Bonito por natureza (8A+) in Eco vila. Full video on her Insta. This was her second 8A+ and the first female ascent. The 33-year-old did her first 8A+, Kalunga, in 2015.

"When I sent Kalunga in 2015 it was a huge surprise for me and everyone because I was very new to climbing. I had only been climbing for three years. Kalunga is a crimpy line that I liked and it happened, I was just having fun hahaha not expecting to send a V12. After that, lots of people started to try the climb and also doubt the grade and all that stuff we know... So I continued my path climbing, training and travelling a lot. I quit my job for a period, went to Rocklands, Patagonia, lived for one year in a Van in the US, etc. Always climbing.

Three years later, I had to come back to Brazil to start a regular job again. I changed my routine to working, training hard and climbing outdoor on weekends. Back to my home crag, I started to remember all the boulders I dreamed of. Bonito por Natureza was, for sure, one of them. Not only because of the grade but because it is super classic. And I confess it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to climb V12 again. I think I first tried Bonito 6 years ago, but at the time it felt impossible! Hahaha When I came back stronger and with more experience, it happened. I'm sooo psyched!!!"

Yoshiyuki Ogata from Japan, who won the Boulder World Cup last year, wins also in 2022. Here are his results in the six World Cups in 2022, where he always has made it to the finals; 2 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 3. Complete results

1. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 3 990
2. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 3 405
3. Kokoro Fujii JPN 3 110
4. Yannick Flohé GER 2 475
5. Mejdi Schalck FRA 2 294

6. Maximilian Milne GBR 2 215
7. Dohyun Lee KOR 2 128
8. Colin Duffy USA 1 976
9. Jongwon Chon KOR 1 958
0. Rei Kawamata JPN 1 774

Colin Duffy from the USA was the only one to Top three boulders in the final, winning his first World Cup victory. The 18-year-old's previous best was a bronze in a Lead WC last year, besides being #7 in the Olympics and winning two Youth World Championships. Overall, the route setting was very good in the semi but in the final, the first two boulders were way too easy and way too hard. Runner up was Dohyun Lee (19) from Korea who was #4 in Brixen two weeks ago. Yoshiyuki Ogata from Japan, who won the semi, got the bronze. Both Korea and Japan had two finalists strengthening the trend of Asia domination. Complete results

Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC took the picture and they got some comments from Duffy. “I was counting the attempts in my head, I thought that if Yoshi had flashed then he would have won, then as he had taken a few attempts on the first move, I started to realise that I had won the competition and I was in shock. I still am in shock!” said Duffy on his victory.

“I wouldn’t be here without the rest of the USA team athletes, the support and camaraderie that I share with the team is a key part of these World Cup experiences. I’m glad that they were here to cheer me on and support me to the gold medal,” he added.