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!"

Great start of the Youth World Champion in Voronezh in Russia with perfect route setting for the youngest category where Anastasi Sanders from the USA topped out all four routes. Among the boys, Sorato Anraku from Japan won and he topped out all but the final. Interesting is that the USA got three out of the six medals and France two.

1. Anastasia Sanders USA Top : Sorato Anraku JPN 40+
2. Meije Lerondel FRA 49+ : Hugo Hoyer USA 39+
3. Mio Nukui JPN 45+ : Dillon Countryman USA 36
Complete results

Hamish McArthur from GBR, who got the silver in the Youth World Championship in 2019, won in the Junior category in Voronezh by topping out all four boulders in just eight tries. In the Top-8, France had three, Great Britain and Japan two boys. Among the Youth A, born -04 and -05, Hannes Van Duysen from Belgium won an extremely tight fight by doing three tops in eight attempts. It is interesting that Mejdi Schalck from France, who is #5 in the World Cup 2021, was #4 after having won both the qualification and the semi. Noteworthy is also that Germany had four guys Top-8.

1. Hamish McArthur GBR 44 (c) Leo Zhukov
2. Rei Kawamata JPN 34
3. Paul Jenft FRA 24

1. Hannes Van Duysen BEL 34 (8)
2. Emil Zimmerman GER 34 (9)
3. Thorben Perry Blom GER 34 (10)
Complete results

Choong Katherine, who previously has done two 9a's, has done Hélix au pays des merveilles 8c (+) in Pic St Loup. The 29-year-old has been an active competition climber for 15 years and in 2009, she won the Youth World Championship. (c) Pierre Delas

"Not having seen a ray of sunshine since this spring in Switzerland and a bit tired of freezing in Switzerland in the middle of July, the idea of enjoying the beautiful cliffs of the south of France motivated me right away. After the first two lead world cups which did not go well, I learned that I was not selected for the rest of the season. A bad thing for a good thing, the next day I was on the road to Le Pic St-Loup to meet some friends. Cédric Lachat had recommended me this cag which is not very frequented but which presents major routes, physically demanding in an impressive cave with tufas! Helix is in the heart of this cave. A long and very overhanging route, with a difficult bouldery move at the bottom, followed by a resistant part with a second crux at the 3/4 of the route before finishing on incredible tufas (where you can still fall). I liked the route right away, although at the beginning I was not strong enough to link the moves. It took me quite a while to figure out the first crux. Fortunately, I had Nina Caprez with me to help me find out the good beta for this crux and Pierre Délas for the rest of the route. The difficult section at the top was also a problem for me, not being able to use the usual beta with my T-Rex arms 😉

After falling on the last difficult move on the last day of my first stay, I had to come back in August for a few days to finish the route. With temperatures still around 30 degrees, I of course waited for the last day of my second stay to finally pass this second crux, fighting at every move and finally succeeding in the route thanks to a small saving wind. As always, the pressure of the last chance allowed me to give it my all!

About the grade, I heard that some climbers would downgrade it. I would say that it is a route of my style (endurance) but actually, it took me a lot of attempts (around 12 days). Maybe my judgement is a bit biased by the heat or because I'm just not that strong ;-) Really hard to say but I'd say the rating seems pretty accurate. Note that I didn't use a knee pad, not being essential with my methods. In short, as usual, a discussion that is not so important for me in view of the beauty of the line, the pleasure of having done a great physical and mental fight and the great moments spent at the cliff with a great team! Thanks to them for the encouragement and the good times, it helps so much in a difficult project to have the chance to be surrounded by a great team."