Matt Fultz, who previously has done four 8C+, has done the FA of Brace for the Cure (8C+) in . It starts in and then continues on small crimpers in a left loop. Video on his Insta.

"This is quite a unique problem. Each move individually isn’t too bad if you hit the holds perfectly. But the crimps are sharp, small, and precise. Often I would grab one of the holds wrong by just a little bit, then would be frozen for the next move. So satisfying to send and hit every hold perfectly for once!".

Could you say something about the process how you took it down?
The problem starts by doing the classic Jade (8B+) into a crux transition where it’s really hard to get your fingers perfectly on the precise crimps. Then you finish with a 1-move 7C+ which feels much harder when you’re a little pumped! I fell off the last hard move back in 2020 right before I moved away from Colorado. I came back in the summer of 2021 but only had one session on it before I got injured. This year, I trained in Boise through May specifically for this problem and it payed off!

Shinichiro Nomura did the FA of Gakido (8C+)in Chigobutai, three months ago. "Finally i sent the old project, known as one of the biggest japanese routes. In addition to bad holdings, i struggle with the worst positioning that i’ve never felt, compared with some over V15 projects. However i managed to send by my sense that i found. Although Japanese routes require a lot of moves and are hard to connect as a whole, this route is short and severe. but the shape of boulder is awesome so I am really happy that i sent it." Here is the great video.

Over the last 12 months, Michaela Kiersch has sent two 8B+ boulders and one 9a route. There might be some unreported ascents out there from other female climbers, but as it stands Michaela is currently the only female having done such top-level grades in both disciplines. In the all-time combined list, there are likely only four female climbers that have done at least one 8B+ and a 9a; Janja Garnbret, Ashima Shiraishi, Josune Bereziartu and Mélissa Le Neve make up that list. There are at least another ten women who have done 8B and 9a or 8B+ and 8c+.
Female climbers have greatly narrowed the performance gap when it comes to bouldering and sport climbing, but interestingly there's significantly fewer female climbers combining both high end sport climbing and bouldering. (c) Nina Williams

Colin Duffy, who won the Boulder WC in Innsbruck three days ago, got the victory also in Lead. Although the 18-year-old was just two holds above the #6, he was pretty superior as he had good control of the last five moves where the others struggled more. In the short Molly Thompson-Smith interview, he commented. "I was feeling quite tired both physically and mentally. I think keeping yourself together through that many rounds of hard competition is really hard on the mind, but as soon as I stepped on the stage for Lead finals I was right back in the zone. I was just happy to climb. I knew the stakes were possible to get the double win, but at the end of the day I really just wanted to climb to my potential."
Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC

Runner-up was Ao Yurikusa - JPN, who was #6 last week in Innsbruck in the University World Championship, beating Jesse Grupper -USA on time. Noteworthy is that USA had three in the Top-11, Japan had four in the Top-12 and Germany three in the Top-13. Complete results

In the Olympics Colin was #7 and last in the final. However, had he not made a false start with 0.002 seconds against Alberto Gines López in the Speed, he would probably have gotten the Olympic gold.

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