Five males topped all five boulders in the SLC qualification, out of which three from Japan. Kokoro Fujii and Tomoa Narasaki, were the best, using only seven respectively eight attempts. Only five of the Olympians made it to the Top-20 semi-final. 42, out of the 54 participants made at least two tops. Adam Ondra did not start as he reported on Insta that he had a bad shoulder from last weekend. Complete results

Among the female, Janja Garnbret won the qualification with five tops in six attempts followed by Miho Nonaka, Natalia Grossman and Futaba Ito also doing all five boulders. In total, seven Olympians made it to the semi-final and they were all Top-14. Complete results

The semi-finals are live-streamed and starts 18.55 Euro Time. (c) Vladek Zumr

Leonardo Veddriq from Indonesia won the Speed final where he also set a new world record at 5.208. Runner up was his teammate Kiromal Katibin, who had made two new world records in the qualifications. "I’m very happy today for this gold medal and for breaking the world record,” said Leonardo right after the final. “It’s been amazing to compete alongside my teammate. We didn’t come here for the victory, we came here to break records." (c) Daniel Gajda/IFSC

Among the female, Olympian Aleksandra Miroslaw won and her fastest time was 7.20 from the qualification. The big sensation was that Miho Nonaka got the bronze and her best time was 8.20. Complete results. Full report from IFSC.

Kiromal Katibon from Indonesia, who was #14 in the Speed Junior World Championship in 2019, did break the Speed World record twice in Salt Lake City. The previous record was 5.48 by Reza Alipour from 2017 and Kiromal made 5.32 and 5.25. Also his teammate Leonardo Viddriq broke the record with 5.37. It should be noted that Qixin Zhong has unofficially done 5.35 winning the China Nationals.

Only nine of the 20 male Olympians participated and Mickael Mawem was fastest by the non-Speed specialist with 6.28. Tomoa Narasaki, who has a PB at 5.73, made a false start in his first run and then he was disqualified for participating in the second. Noteworthy is that neither Alex Megos or Adam Ondra did participate although having signed up for competing. Complete results.

Among the female, Olympian Aleksandra Miroslaw, who is not doing any of the two Boulder World Cups in Salt Lake City, won the qualification with 7.20. Janja Garnbret set a big PB with 8.36 being #7 just ahead of Kyra Kondie 8.43. In total, ten of the female Olympians participated.

On the first semi-final boulder in the Salt Lake City World Cup, Oriane Bertone innovated a new 'ballerina' move by putting almost all of her weight on the upper side of the shoe. In the screenshot, she lifts her left foot in order to put it against the volume while both her hands are on side pulls. As it turns out, she was not aware of having done it like this when we asked for comments.

"I forgot where I actually did a ballerina move 😭 To be completely honest, I was pretty confused when climbing. The beta I chose was surely not the best one. I ended up fighting to stay on the boulder by putting a knee (towards the volume). It was not gracious at all but it worked, so I guess all good in the end :))

On the contrary, I think it was gracious like a ballerina with that new innovation move.
I haven’t thought about it, to be honest, but when I think about it I feel like the shoes I have are pretty much adapted to that upper-side-shoe move and again, I don’t really remember if I did it before. Until you told me you liked the way it looked, I just thought it was a pretty ugly move 😭 I really thought I climbed pretty badly, thanks a lot! Yeah, it for sure helped a lot, I guess it was a bit part of the strange beta I imagined ha, ha."

Jana Vincourkova has done her fourth 8A+ during the last six weeks, Nataša in Babí lom. It is an 8A+ roof she made the FA of last month and this times she did it backwards, video. Noteworthy is that Jana restarted climbing 2.5 years ago after having taken a two years break. In the 8a ranking game, she is #6 after four girls from the USA and Oriane Bertone from France.

"It all started when my boyfriend wanted to repeat Izabela 8A+ which I made the FA of last month. I was sitting under the crag and watching him climb. Then he said that I could try to climb Izabela backwards to kill some time while I was waiting and I was like „Noo, it would be the same boulder, same moves..“ But later I tried it anyway and find out it's really hard and definitely much harder for me than Izabela. So I started to climb but wasn't able to do all the moves in a row and so the projecting began. It took me two long climbing days to sent this boulder and I have to say that the moves are so different and the whole problem takes much more endurance than Izabela. I called the boulder Nataša because I am very bad at naming new boulders so I just looked into the calendar whose name day was that day and it was Nataša. It's the same story with Izabela."

Brooke Raboutou, who was #3 in Salt Lake City, excels also outdoors by flashing her first 8A+, Euro Trash in Little Cottonwood Canyon (UT). "So psyched!! Still riding the high from the World Cup final and couldn’t resist climbing on what was supposed to be a rest day. Oops haha. So psyched to flash it!"

Later she did her seventh 8B during the last year, Euro Roof Low Low. "After the flash of the 12 I went for this one! Happy to also put it down in about 4 more tries! Great day with a fun group! Comps are so fun but outdoors...❤️"

In the 8a ranking game, the 20-year-old Olympian is #2. On Friday, she will compete in Speed in Salt Lake City and then on Saturday, there is a new Bouldering World Cup coming up. (c) Daniel Gajda

Giuliano Cameroni has done his fourth 8C+, Off the Wagon Sit in Valle Bavona, after some 80 sessions during six years. "Stand start from the ground from the same hold as the sit from the wagon. The difficulty doesn’t change but this way the line is nicer and more logical." In practice, he actually moved the wagon aside.

On Insta he gives the full great story how much the mental state impacts your climbing. Here is part of the lessons learnt. (c) Rainer Eder

"The day of the send, a sudden change happened: I was sitting underneath as always when I realized that I had a choice between having fun or desperately trying again. This realization put me in a great state of flow free of negative vibes and fear of failing. Right after I missed the final jug, which was my highpoint, and instead of getting mad I started laughing. I knew I was approaching the boulder the right way, so I stayed calm and happy. The next try I climbed it. Everything connected and all of a sudden I was standing on the top. A great sense of joy pervaded me and I remember wondering how it could happen so effortlessly when I had tried it for so long."

So what is next?
Next is La Force Tranquille, The Understanding and Hazel grace sit.

The Swizz is taking about two 8C's and doing the Sit FA of an 8B+ stand start. Previously, he has done eight 8C and harder FA's.

Mathieu Pauwels has done his fourth 9a, Coup d’état in fleron. "It is a route equipped by my friend Micha "The machine" Simon Lorenzi made the first ascent of the route last year and "the second machine" Thomas Salakenos the 2nd a few months ago. Otherwise, it is a short resistance type because there are only +/- 18 movements. I did the route fairly quickly in 4 working sessions. In any case, it is a unique route in Belgium and essential."

What is next?
I have another 9a project and I am trying a possible 9a+/b. My two projects are located at a small cliff called Le Trou Margritte. The first plan is to try to do an old project bolted by Nicolas Favresse which should be 9a. And then try a line that has never been done as well which would be around 8c/+. If I chain this line I will try to add a new start via another route 8c/+ route. The whole line must be 9a+/b? For me, this is finally the entrance to a new world.

IFSC has tested a new mixed team format where two females and two males try to make 12 tops on six different boulders. Only the coaches are allowed in the observation, and he/she is supposed to decide who will try the different boulders. There were nine teams participating and France won doing nine tops, followed by Belgium and Japan. (c) Vladek Zumr

Simon Lorenzi from Belgium, #7 last weekend, reports, "It was a super cool event! There is definitely something really motivating about climbing with/for your team! It was also really cool to share the beta, cheering directly on your friend being so close to the wall and brush for your teammate. It's a very fun format!"

1. France 911 (9 Tops and 11 Zones)
2. Belgium 710
3. Japan 610 (11 attempts)
4. Slovenia 610 (12)
5. USA-2 570
Complete result