Brooke Raboutou, #5 in the Tokyo Olympics, has done Evil Backwards (8B) in . ”Came here 5 years ago and watched Puccio send, thought it was too big for me but really just wasn’t strong enough lol! First go from the bottom :) fun crew, wonderful evening!”

In total, the 21-year-old has now done 15 boulders 8B or harder. In the 2022 World Cup she is currently #3 although having skipped the last event in Brixen. Coming up 22/6 is the Combined World Cup in Innsbruck followed by Lead in Vilars and Chamonix and possibly also Briancon 22/7.

Philipp Gaßner has done Fonax (8c+) and in Nassereith. ”I am happy to have climbed Hades which is a great endurance test piece. It starts with moderate climbing and then leads to the crux section. The crux is about powerful moves on relatively good crimps and ends with a daring cross move. After that, you reach a saving rest and you can enjoy the easier exit on some lovely grey rock. So it’s very fun to climb!”

Adam Ondra did Pungitopo (8c+) in Red Point Wall in March. "Bolted by Francesco Morandi. Epic line, epic rock! Hard to say the grade, tried one day with soft skin and wrong beta, then did it next day with better beta. Could be 8c+."

Nacho Sanchez reports on Insta, with a 4 min video, that he has done the FA of Daños con-laterales 8C+ in Fortuna, after 30+ sessions. The Spaniard has previously done two 8C/+ and eight 8C's.

Could you say something about the process of how you took it down?
I started trying it some years ago. When I solved the isolated moves, I thought I wasn't too far from sending it, but I needed years of training to link the first three moves and another year to send it. Sometimes I had to stop trying it because of some injuries, but I finally overcame them and felt strong enough to send it. It has been hard mentally, but I've enjoyed the process very much.

Did you do any replica or specific training?
I did a lot of body tension and compression exercises and climbed many problems on the board with side pulls too.

William Bosi, who has taken a break from comps in 2022, has done done his third 8C in six days, Outliers in TROMBARROW. "Really happy to get the 2nd ascent after a huge battle totally in 4 broken footholds. causing me to change beta multiply times."

Here is the ranking after five, out of seven events. As Natalia Grossman has been 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1, she has already secured the gold even if she skips the last two competitions. On the male side, it would be a big surprise if not one of the first three ranked Japanese guys will take the overall title.

1. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 3 845 - Natalia Grossman USA 4 805
2. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 2950 - Miho Nonaka JPN 2588
3. Kokoro Fujii JPN 2 825 - Brooke Raboutou USA 2 485
4. Mejdi Schalck FRA 2 283 - Oriane Bertone FRA 2 285
5. Maximillian Milne GBR 2 215 - Stasa Gejo SRB 2 195
6. Yannick Flohé GER 1 980 - Futaba Ito JPN 2 190

National Ranking
1. Japan 17 298
2. USA 12 025
3. France 8 957
4. Austria 7 126
5. Germany 6 344
6. Slovenia 5 317

After having won both the qualification as well as the semifinal, the pressure was on Yannick Flohé shoulders starting last in the final. He had heard that all his five competitors did the first boulder, out of which one flash by Maximillian Milne. Yannick sends it on his third try after having failed to match the Top on his second attempt. Later, Maximillian is the only one who tops the second boulder at the same time, Yannick can not match the top. As also the third boulder looked a bit too hard and Yannick fell on the second last hold, after a tiring attempt, the pressure increased on the 22-year-old German.

On his next try, he finds a solution on the crux and tops relatively easy and the crowd goes wild as well as the commentators and the DJ. Nobody tops the last and Yannick has secured the gold before trying the last boulder. He makes some good attempts and is again the one getting the closest to send showing who has been the best throughout all three rounds in Brixen. Runner-up was Maxmilian Milne GBR and Tomoa Narasaki got the bronze. Complete results

How did you deal with the pressure starting last as well as first falling so close to topping out the first three boulders?
I think I was lucky as there wasn’t too much pressure as there weren’t that many tops. On #3, I knew that nobody topped before. On a flash round (on easier boulders), it’s much harder to perform well when you come out last. I think I was capable of making finals last year but my head didn’t work. I got much stronger this year but I would never emagine winning a World Cup. Making another final after Salt Lake City was my main goal. (c) NEWSPOWER.IT

Interestingly, Yannick is an active outdoor climber and last year he did two 9a's. In 2022, he started by doing Off the Wagon Sit (8C+) but later he broke his foot. Even so, he did trips to Fontainebleau and Ticino, sending three 8B+ and two 8C in March, which have been covered in 8a articles. The injury made him decide to skip the first two world Cups as he could not run around jumping on volumes.

It should be mentioned that Yannick got the bronze in the World Championship in 2019 and that he in 2021 was the Combined World Champion. However, besides these comps he has only twice been in the Top-16 out of 16 Boulder World Cups before he was #5 and #7 in Salt Lake City in 2022, although having previously several times won or placed Top-3 in the qualifications.

Hard semifinal round in Brixen and it was not until Yannick Flohé, starting last as he won the qualification, that all boulders got topped. The umbrellas of all spectators and athletes were lifted to the clear blue sky and everyone was screaming. The new german coach, Sagi Damti from Israel (in the picture), who the head coach Ingo says is the main reason why the German has strengthened their mental game, was jumping up and down almost dancing. (Interesting interview is coming up).

Second and third were Meichi (188 cm) and Tomoa Narasaki (170 cm). In the end, you had to score 23 in five attempts to make it to the final. The much taller little brother said, "This was my round. It was nice to be a little taller with a good reach." and he shows his big span and smiles. The other three who made it to the semifinal were Maximillian Milne, Yoshiyuki Ogata and Dohyun Lee.

Possibly the first boulder was a little bit reachy and the shortest athlete making it was Jakob Schubert 176 cm. As all previous rounds have had perfect route setting, it should also be mentioned that the zone placement on boulder 3 should have been placed one move lower as only three climbers made the zone. Complete results