Pictures of the boulders were shown in the isolation during the boulder qualification and semi, based on the new rule: "A photograph or sketch of each Boulder may be shown in the Isolation Zone or in the Transit Zone for the relevant boulder."

This has upset some climbers and Alex Megos and Stasa Gejo have posted a statement, not written by them, on their Instas. We asked Megos for some further comments.

"I don't think they have a clue what the new rule is yet. I just talked to an IFSC official and the idea behind it was to make it fairer for athletes. They wanted to avoid athletes having seen the boulders during setting up have an advantage. Usually, that only is the case for lead comps though (Chamonix for example). So it doesn't really make sense for bouldering. Plus it makes it not fair right now because some people have more time to study the pictures and athletes with coaches can talk about the boulders with experienced people. Athletes without coaches do not have that opportunity."

According to the IFSC rules, "Each boulder should be designed without any downwards jump." From the highlights video (min 2.02 to 2.14), it seems that Janja Garnbret makes downward jumps on both boulder 3 and 4. Prior to the comp this was mentioned by both athletes as well as the judges to the officials without any action.

Janja Garnbret won the Meiringen World Cup ahead of Natalia Grossman and they were both leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the field. Overall, Janja did all 13 boulders and in the final, she only needed five attempts. Natalia managed ten boulders overall out of which three in the final. Andrea Kümin, #6 in the WCh last year, got the bronze pleasing the home crowd, doing one boulder as also Oriane Bertone #4 did. Noteworthy is that they did only six boulders overall as also #5 Futaba Ito and Stasa Gejo #6 did. Complete results (c) Jan Virt/IFSC

From one point of view, the boulders seemed to be a bit too hard in the last two rounds at the same time, Janja probably could have done just as many even if they had been a bit harder. Prior to Meiringen, Janja had been in Oliana projecting the endurance monster La Dura Dura 9b+.

From the IFSC newsletter, “Today’s win was a privilege. It means a lot to me because it’s not obvious that you will win every competition – each competition is a story in itself. Just because you won everything last year doesn’t mean that you can next year, so every win means a lot to me. That’s why I was so emotional!” said Garnbret.

“I’ve decided to skip the [rest of the] Boulder season this year. The Olympics last year were a pretty hard take on physical and mental preparation, so I feel that I need a little time off from comps and this year is the perfect year to do that. I already have [the Olympic Games in] Paris in mind!” she added.

Janja Garnbret topped out all four boulders in the semi in just six attempts. Runner up was Natalia Grossman with three Tops and then nine girls made two tops with Oriane Bertone scoring best with four zones which also Stasa Gejo made. Ayala Kerem, who won the qualification together with Garnbret, ended #17 in the semi. Complete results

The women’s Boulder semi-final will take place tomorrow at 11:00 AM (UTC+2:), while the final is scheduled at 6:00 PM. The male semi-final starts on Sunday at 11:00 (UTC+2) and the final begins at 4:00 PM. How to watch the semi and final..

The biggest surprises in the Meiringen Boulder qualification were that Sean Bailey was #45 and that Olympic gold winner Alberto Gines Lopez was #80 among 111 male competitors. Other Olympians that ḿissed the Top-20 semi were; Nathaniel Coleman #21, Jakob Schubert #31 and Michael Piccolruaz #41. In the female category, four Olympians did not make the semi; Mia Krampl #25, Miho Nonaka #27 and Laura Rogora #36 among 83 participants. Although all 20 boulders were topped out, almost 2/3 of all athletes made a maximum of one boulder. In the male category, more than 1/3 made a max of just two zones. The USA had four women making the semi, Slovenia got four male to the semi and Japan had six men in the Top-21. Complete results

Jonathan Siegrist, who in just the last two weeks has done two 9a (+), has sent La Novena Enmienda 9a (+) in Santa Linya. "What a journey!! Feels pretty bad ass to climb all of the way up the gut of this monster cave. Got full-body-worked on the send for sure. 9a/+" (c) Cameron Maier

So you did your first 9a at age 24 and now at 36, it seems you are peaking? Could you elaborate a bit on your late blooming progress?
I worked really hard for the last four years to address some of my weaknesses with training and also with the projects I choose outside which definitely helped me make some progression! Also as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to be more patient, rest more, and take really good care of myself. But ultimately it’s not much about how ‘strong’ I am (actually I am super weak when compared to top climbers!), it’s more about just prioritizing being outside and climbing on rock "a muerte" as much as possible. Power is for sure my main weakness. I’m okay at static strength but true power is very hard for me. At least I think that’s the right answer… Climbing is such a mystery, I still have a lot to learn.

The Meiringen WC starts with female qualification at 09.00 followed by the male qualification today at 16.30 (GMT+2). In total, 199 athletes from 34 countries are participating. You can follow the results live in the IFSC app and their website.

Christof Rauch has done Walk the line (9a) in Zillertal. "This was intense! My longest route climbing project and the hardest route I climbed so far! Maybe it doesn’t fit my style perfectly but I think it sits on the upper end of the grade. After falling almost 10 times past the last kneebar it became mentally really hard! Psyched to grab the third ascent after the legends Jakob Schubert and Adam Ondra. Thanks to everyone who supported me on this journey! Such a huge relief that it‘s finally over."

Christof is mainly a boulderer having done some 850 boulders 8A and harder out of which a dozen 8C's, although working full time. In the last two years, he has had some injury problems and this is why he has focused more on routes. This was the Austrian's fourth 9a the last year.

Are you fully recovered from your injuries now?
My elbow is not at 100%. I can not train one-arm pull-ups and no campus board but it‘s getting better slowly.

Oriane Bertone took silver in Meiringen last year and overall she was #3 in the Boulder World Cup. This was surprisingly not as sensational as it seemed as she had already dominated the youth scene for several years, while at the same time setting several female records outdoors, including doing an 8B (+) at age 12!

How are you feeling the day before Meiringen starts and how have you prepared?
I’m doing good, super excited for the season to start :) I’ve been working on my weak points for the past few months and I think I got a bit better 😝. Physical boulders, compressions style or anything where you have to use more muscles than usually.

Any outdoor climbing?
I’ve been concentrating on indoor climbing recently. I didn’t have much time to go climbing outside because of that. Hopefully, I’ll be able to go to Font when I’ll be back from Meiringen.

What are your further plans for 2022?
For the moment I’ll be concentrating on this weekend WC, have loads of fun and enjoy the newly started season :)

What about schooling and how much do you train in a normal week?
Yeah I’m still in school :)) I’m homeschooling actually, so I can have more time to climb and organize my schedule :) I would say around 8 training sessions a week but it depends a lot!