Adam Ondra comments on Insta, "After the Olympics, I am not very motivated to go to the competitions, but 🇮🇹 Arco @rockmasterfestival is not just a random contest."

Yesterday, he worked the boulders where they will compete on today on a redpoint KO formula where two, out of eight, will be eliminated after each round, where they have three attempts. On the third boulder, only one will be eliminated and then the Top-3 will compete for the victory on the final boulder. Ondra describes the boulders on his Insta.

In the Duel, two athletes compete on identical routes and the first one topping out the 25-meter route advances to the next round. Also here, the athletes have been practising the route. Ondra has won five times but Jakob Schubert got the victory the last time.

11.00 Female Bouldering KO
15.00 Male Bouldering KO
21.00 Duel for Female and Male
Live-streaming link

Laura Rogora (ITA), Giorgia Tesio (ITA), Molly Thompson (GBR), Vita Lukan (SLO), Mia Krampl (SLO), Fanny Gibert (FRA), Eliska Adamskova (CZE) and Jessica Pilz (AUT).

Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA), Adam Ondra (CZE), Martin Stranik (CZE), Domen Skofic (SLO), Yannick Flohè (GER), Nicolai Uznik (AUT), Ludovico Fossali (ITA), Michael Piccolruaz (ITA).

Adam Ondra made the FA of Change in Flatanger as the world's first 9b+ after some 20 days project. The next year he finished bolting of Project hard, later renamed to Silence. It starts with a 20 meter 8b, followed by easier climbing separated with kneebars and three boulder problems graded 8C, 8B and 7C+.

Just for the famous 8C boulder where he goes feet first, he invested 70 hours during 5 trips in 2016-17. Add to that eight weeks of specific training including on an average three sessions a day. Furthermore, he did specific visualization mental training as well as was working intensively together with physiotherapist Klaus Isele. In the Flatanger basecamp, Team Ondra built a bouldering wall so he could warm up there and go directly to his project.

Stefano Ghisolfi has posted on Insta that while comparing Bibliographie in Céüse, he says his previous two 9b+' took similar time to take down so therefore, he thinks they are of the same 9b+ difficulty. In total, the Italian projected it for 25 days during three months. "In the end, I felt good on it from the beginning, found new beta for the crux (switching left and right hand compare to Alex), and new beta for the second crux." (c) Jan Novak

Pol Roca Lopez has done Power of Now giving it a personal 8B+ grade and flashed Mother Night 8B. He had previously done 167 boulders 8A to 8C, out of which just one flash, so it came as a nice surprice without any expectations.

"It was strange, I had no intention of doing flash but everything flowed and I was able to do it! 100% of my style and the friction and temperature were perfect. After warm-up in another sector I saw the video of Diego Cameroni and just put chalk and tried it.

Power of now, I did it in three sessions. The first was to look for all the methods and I had one good attempt falling to the top but in the first step I broke the skin on the palm of my hand and I had to stop for two days. In the second session I had just two tries falling on the last move and I felt the same in my hand and I had to rest two more days. During the third session, I was able to do it on the first try after warm-up!"

Solveig Korherr, who previously has done three 8c+', has done her first 9a, Cabane au Canada in Rawyl. "I couldn’t have wished for a better route and place to fulfil a long-term dream of mine! I‘m so freaking happy to call „La cabane au Canada“ my first 9a! After struggling with the big move in the upper part last year, I was very surprised to feel a lot stronger this time and to find a new and better beta! 2 days this year + 4 days last year. Thanks, Tini for the big support and the sending belay!" (c) Hannes Tell

How can you explain being so much stronger this year?
When I checked out all the moves of Cabane last year, I struggled quite a bit with one move in the upper part which was a very low percentage and huge for me. After falling there a few times after having already 25 meters of harder climbing in my arms, I arrived quite pumped there and I was doubting myself if I could to this move from the ground.

When I came back this year, I wanted to be well prepared and trained for one and a half months. When I tried the route the first time I was totally surprised how much better I felt compared to last year. The lower part was quite on my limit before and this time I could recover much better and felt stronger on the small crimps. When I tried the upper crux, I was almost shocked that the tiny intermediate I used for the big move I could now lock off and reach the next hold in a much more static and safe way. That gave me a lot of confidence and I knew with a good mindest it’s totally in my ability and in the end, I think this route couldn’t have fit me better.
I think the difference to last year was that I came straight out of a training cycle instead of being on the road for a while already. It was also the first time that I had a specific route in my mind which gave me a lot of motivation in my training.

Having watched different bouldering stages in the Youth World Championships in Russia, it strikes me that several of the youngsters spend one-minute brushing before starting to climb. This actually is the normal procedure also for the very first athletes out there, when there should be almost nothing to brush away. This means that 20 % of the climbing time has gone by and that they have just four minutes left to complete the boulder.

Sure in some very rare cases, such an extensive brushing could possibly mean the difference sending it first go. However, I would anyhow suggest skipping at least that periscope brushing and just brush the starting holds and get going. Then if you spend a minute on the wall reaching the zone and beyond, you can rest a minute or so while brushing all reachable holds extensively. This means you will have more time climbing as well as more time resting increasing your chances for topping will increase.

The big sensation in the female youth A category was that Alex Totkova, who was #3 in the Chamonix World Cup, was #4 in the Youth World Championship. The winner was Sara Copar from Slovenia who won the Combined Youth World Championship in 2019. Among the Junior girls, Nonoha Kume from Japan won the gold in her first-ever IFSC competition, on countback over Lucija Tarkus from Slovenia. Overall, Slovenia with just two million inhabitants got 50 % of the medals.
1. Sara Copar SLO 46+
2. Alessia Maboni ITA 40+
3. Liza Novak SLO 40+
Complete results


1. Nonoha Kume JPN 48+
2. Lucija Tarkus SLO 48+
3. Camille Pouget FRA 46+

Alexey Rubtsov, the Boulder World Champion in 2009, who was #13 in the Olympics, has repeated Low Priora in Djan-tugan, suggesting a personal 8C grade. "In total, I cleaned and climbed 22 FAs from 5 to 8A+, out of which eight 8A or 8A+. Two new sectors were opened. I also repeated one 8B+ (downgrade from 8C) and one 8C (downgrade from 8C+) during a ten days trip. Caucasus is one of the best new climbing areas for sure!"