Adam Ondra is the best climber in the world. The discipline where he is most superior is onsight including 85 8c to 9a. The runner up has probably done a dozen 8c and harder! However, what anyhow sticks out, and what can be very important for coaches, parents and wonderkids to take in, is Adam's focus on onsight until he became a teenager. Being 12 years old, Adam onsighted 19 8a+ and 8 8b's. Such an amazing onsight ticklist would have placed him #1 in the 8a onsight ranking game most of the years since we started the scorecard in 2000.

At age 10, Adam onsighted five 8a's and had redpointed one 8a+! Being 8 years old, his maximum grade was 7b+ and out of seven such, he had onsighted four. In his first ever 8a interview, at age eleven, he said "I always try to climb as many routes of the grade OS (now, it is 8b). I usually don't try harder things for a long time."

Here are some comments from Adam from 2017 which have an important message to the youngsters, parents and coaches of today.
What are the changes you see on the scene in comparison to when you were like 13 years old? What advice could you give to the young climbers?
I think the scene of youngsters has changed as there are way more kids climbing pretty hard. More coaches, more scientific approach, but the problem for many remain the same - I often see too much pressure from the coaches and parents (which is even worse), not letting the kids be more independent in climbing and just having more fun in general. Kids should be motivated and psyched to climb themselves - if not, they will probably quit climbing sooner or later. It is important to be ambitious but not focusing too much on the performance. I think kids in general often climb only in certain areas and certain routes, which fit their style and they can push their limits very fast and high.

We know that grades are relative, most importantly for someone being only 130cm. It can be frustrating for the youngsters when they grow up, their bodies changing and they do not make any further progression, or not even maintain the level. I think it is very important to climb everything and everywhere when it comes to sport climbing, mostly onsighting but not all the time, and not onsighting in the usual areas suitable for onsights. That way one learns the most and you gain the experience to have fun in the future, because you will be capable of climbing well in any style.

Jonathan Flor reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Zeleputza 9a+ in La hoya de la leze, which was bolted by Iker Pou. "A amazing line of pure endurance, on an incredible wall full of great projects, so this has only just begun, over the next few days I will try to work on other lines I have pending together with a great team of motivated climbers. 🙌🏼" (c) Gorka Karapeto

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Vadim Timonov had an amzing trip to Rocklands this summer doing three 8C's, three 8B+' and a flash of The Guest List 8B.

Antoine Girard reports from his latest trip including a nice funny video. "Instead of the Rockland trip schedule for august 2021which was cancelled due to the COVID crisis, I spent one month in Switzerland. 2 weeks in Gottardo to discover this Wonderfull area and 2 weeks in Magicwood trying to succeed in the old project. I’ve planned to try all the classic boulders of Gottardo. Hazel Grace 8B+, Bonjour Finesse 8B and Stairway to Heaven 8B+ went pretty fast but The famous slab Kingda Ka never went. After these two first weeks I drove to Magicwood to try Power of Now 8B+/C but it was a little bit disappointing because the first mouv is morph and Simon’s beta is so much hard and painful. So I decided to change my plans and I tried Ill Trill which cost me 4 sessions. I enjoyed to did some 8Bs that I let last year and trying hard in Mystic Stylez. It will be necessary to come back in this magical place to finish old projects and trying some of the nicest 8Cs of this chaos when the conditions will be cooler."

Alex Garriga, who the last five months has done five 9a+, including a personal downgrade of a confirmed 9b, has done three more 9a's in Ilarduia; Harropuza, Escaqueo de Mulero and Celedon. The 22-year-old finished his University degree one month ago so there should be plenty of room for more and harder ascents. (c) Alfonso Martinez

"Ilarduia is one of the best crags in Spain. Celedon is possibly the best route, a perfect endurance route. Now I am trying to climb as much as I can. Let's see what happens in the next months 😂😂"

Japan and USA got three gold each in the Youth World Championship in Voronezh, Russia. If we give three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze, this is the ranking; France 18, Japan 16, Slovenia 15 and USA 14. It should be mentioned that Japan, which totally dominated in 2019 with 29 points participated only with one athlete per category, more or less, in 2021.


Interestingly is that only Naile Meignan won both the semi and final in Bouldering. She was also the only one to flash all for problems in the semifinal. Hamish MacArthur (GBR) and Anastasia Sanders (USA) won in both Lead and Boulder. Noteworthy is also that Aleksandra Totkova and Mejdi Schalck, who have made podiums in Lead and Boulder respectively in the 2021 World Cup, did not make podiums in those disciplines in Youth A.

France got both the golds in the oldest girls Boulder Youth World Championships in Russia. Naile Meignan first won the qualification and then she flashed all four problems in the semifinal before winning also the final. The 17-year-old has previously won six IFSC events in Bouldering and already in 2019, she was #6 among the seniors in the European Championship. Noteworthy is that she was probably the youngest junior competing as she is born December 18, 2003. Among the Youth A, Zélia Avezou (17) was #5 until the last boulder which she did second go getting the gold. Her mother Cecile was #4 in the World Championship in 2012, at age 40 and her big brothers Leo and Sam are regular World Cup climbers.

1. Naile Meignan FRA 34 - Zélia Avezou FRA 14 (2)
2. Emily Phillips GBR 24 - Sara Copar SLO 14 (3)
3. Lucija Tarkus SLO 23 - Alessia Mabboni ITA 13
Complete results

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