Aleksandra Miroslaw travelled all the way to Salt Lake City where she won the Speed event while she chose not to participate in Boulder. This will be her only competition before the Olympics as she has not registered for Villars. Iuliia Kaplina skipped Boulder and Lead in Innsbruck while she won the Euro Cup in Speed. She is signed up for Speed in Villars but will not do Lead. It seems that some of the best Speed specialists have done their math and skip any competition preparation whatsoever in the other two disciplines.

This is of course a logical strategy as the winner of Speed will be #4 or #5 in Tokyo even if they are dead last in the other two disciplines. Based on the results in 2021, where the Tokyo Combined favourites have strengthened their positions in all three disciplines, the risk for a Speed specialist getting the bronze has increased. As a matter of fact, it only takes that two Speed specialists are Top-2 in Speed during the qualifications while the favourites deliver good results in all three disciplines. If both Miroslaw and Kaplina make it to the Top-8 final, there is a great chance/risk that one of them will take the bronze scoring 1 * 7 * 7 = 49. When it comes to the males, also the favourites have strengthened their positions in 2021 and that goes especially for Tomoa Narasaki who several times has done sub six seconds. In other words, he could win both the qualification and Final in Speed which will almost guarantee him a bronze and make him the big favourite for the gold.

On the other hand, with the new male world record and several training times close to five seconds, it just might be that the Olympics will make several guys doing close to five seconds in Tokyo.

Innsbruck has been the epicentre for competition climbing for many years, and the shows are always well-organized. Here are some reflections from the last World Cups, besides calling Simon Lorenzi's 13-second send on his tenth attempt the most epic moment.


1. The Lead route setting was in general good but possibly too technical as most athletes actually fell due to technical mistakes instead of giving a good fight.
2. During the Boulder finals, it was too hard to get to the zone but once there, too easy to get to the top. In most cases, as soon as you got the zone, you also made it to the top. Everyone who topped did so directly after they made it to the zone.
3. Great digital result presentation in the Lead finals, but otherwise poor, making the commentators' job difficult.
4. Good job by the commentators creating a friendly and positive feeling including quick interviews.
5. The commentators misguide the viewers as they cannot analyse the result in bouldering.
6. Semis are about qualifying to the final but this is of very low interest to the commentators who focus on the show.
7. Too many competitors - max 2 per country if not having ranking points will make conditions fairer.
8. Brooke Raboutou is the new contender for a medal in Tokyo. In 2019, her best results were #15 in Lead and #21 in Boulder, out of eight events.

9. In the IFSC channel, it was announced that Laura Rogora won the semi in Lead, but later it was said she was timed out.
10. Japanese males continue their total domination in Boulder, and in Lead they had four Top-11.
11. While no male qualified for both the Lead and Boulder finals, Janja Garnbret won both quite superior.
12. The Olympic favourites strengthened their positions but most others struggle.
13. Outrageous camera work of Johanna Förber
14. Bolt covers so nobody will be disqualified stepping on the bolts.

1. Natalia Grossman 345 - Kokoro Fuji 255
2. Janja Garnbret 280 (3) - Yoshiyuki Ogata 255
3. Oriane Bertone 235 - Adam Ondra 200 (2)
4. Brooke Raboutou 207 - Sean Bailey 166
5. Miho Nonaka 192 - Mejdi Schalck 157

The last two events will take place in October in Korea and China. Overall, the Top-5 best results will count.

Yoshiyuki Ogata was the only one to top the first boulder by some spectacular campus moves. On the second boulder, Simon Lorenzi set some kind of record. First, he failed the initial double dyno, nine times and then with 13 seconds left he tried it again and made it. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that there were just a few second left and grabbed the zone and immediately made the double dyno to the top and stuck it. The last boulder was basically just a traverse with no handholds before a dyno to the zone followed by another dyno to the top.

Ogata could secure the gold by topping and was very close to get the zone. Then Tomoa had the chance to win and made the zone but could not stick the dyno to the last hold. Last out was Kokoro Fujii, who had not made any zone, making the first top of the boulder easily on his second try, ǵetting the bronze, based on countback to the semi.

1. Yoshiyuki Ogata JPN 22 (c) Vladek Zumr
2. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 13
3. Kokoro Fujii JPN 11 (2+2)
4. Nicolai Uznik 11 (2+2)
5. Simon Lorenzi 11 (10)
6. Nathaniel Coleman USA 1

It should be mentioned that they only climbed three boulders in the final as it was delayed an hour due to heavy rain. The organisation worked very hard to make this possible and once again Innsbruck delivered a great competition week.

On the new 8a Games feature, you can predict the top 5 male and female athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Games. You can edit your prediction anytime leading up to the start of the competition. Here is my updated prediction after Innsbruck.

1. Janja Garnbret SLO - Tomoa Narasaki JPN
2. Akiyo Noguchi JPN - Adam Ondra CZE
3. Brooke Raboutou USA - Jakob Schubert AUT
4*. Aleksandra Miroslaw POL - Bassa Mawem FRA
5. Miho Nonaka JPN - Alex Megos GER

* Based on the multiplication format, it is likely that the Speed winner in the final will end #4 or #5 even being dead last in the other disciplines. The fastest non-Speed specialists are Miho Nonaka and Tomoa Narasaki. Nonaka injured her knee during in Innsbruck.

Midways into the fourth and last female boulder, heavy rain started and later it was announced that the fourth boulder was cancelled. Janja Garnbret once again made the boulders looking easy doing them all on her first try and was only challenged by Natalia Grossman needing nine attempts.

1. Janja Garnbret SLO 33 (3)
2. Natalia Grossman USA 33 (9)
3. Stasa Gejo SRB 13
4. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 12 (1)
5. Futaba Ito JPN 12 (3)
Miho Nonaka did not participate due to a knee injury she got on the last semi boulder. (c) Vladek Zumr

Great semifinals where Kokoro Fujii and Janja Garnbret were the only ones doing all four boulders. Among the male, total domination by Japan with seven in Top-16 and all Top-3. Also among the female, Japan got three into the Top-6 final. Interesting is that only three females Olympians and two males Olympians made it to the finals.

Finalists for tonight 18.00: Garnbret, Ito, Nonaka, Grossman, Noguchi and Gejo.
Male at 20.00: Fujii, Narasaki, Ogata, Coleman, Uznik and Lorenzi.

Complete Results on "IFSC WC Series" App.

Stefano Ghisoli qualified to the final based on countback with three other climbers. Then first out in the final, he reached the second last hold. Later, the next four climbers seem to fall mainly due to technical route reading mistakes high up on the route. Third last out is Jakob Schubert finding Ghisolfi's beta with a very high heel hook on the crux and then having good control until the last hold before the top jug. Last out is Adam Ondra and we can all see how incredible tight shoes he has when he puts them on just before starting to climb. It was raining and most climbers did just put on the shoes on stage. (c) Vladek Zumr

He started in his normal fast style but suddenly slips with his right hand and also his right foot cut loose. Swinging out his bent left arm gets straightened out be he hangs on. Then he takes a long rest to recover but then again after just a couple of moves his right foot cut loose. "It is just this crazy slip. It is almost unnatural. It almost feels like his shoes were wet or something." Commentator Alex Khazanov is pretty shocked by what he saw.
In the winner interview, Jakob shows great sportsmanship saying that he would have liked seeing what Ondra could have done at the top.

1. Jakob Schubert AUT 47+
2. Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 47
3. Sascha Lehmann SUI 38+
4. Masahiro Higuchi JPN 38+
5. Alberto Gines Lopez ESP 37+

Janja Garnbret started out last and before her, only Brooke Raboutou had come up on the headwall and Akiyo Noguchi had come halfways. The other five females had fallen doing dynos long way further down. Laura Rogora was second last out but hesitated and struggled clipping the third quickdraw. Then she clipped the fourth very high up making the coming dyno harder and she fell. A fall clipping the third actually looked scary and earlier Viktoria Meshkova had smashed into the wall upside down.

Last out was Janja and in her normal casual style, she cruised to the top smiling. Overall, the Olympians dominated getting all Top-5 spots and with Brooke's fantastic results in Salt Lake City, her extreme progress also in Lead, puts her as one of the top challengers to Janja in Tokyo. (c) Vladek Zumr

1. Janja Garnbret SLO TOP
2. Brooke Raboutou USA 40
3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 33+
4. Viktoria Meshkova RUS 22+
5. Miho Nonaka JPN 22+

Finalists are; Garnbret, Rogora, Raboutou, Rakovec, Lukan, Meshkova, Noguchi and Nonaka.
Ondra, Gines Lopez, Schubert, Lehmann, Potocar, Megos, Higuchi, Dhisolfi.
Follow the results on the "IFSC WC Series" App.