Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen reports on Insta that he has done the FA of Le Pilier du Désert assis 8C in Fontainebleau after just four sessions, beside two sessions doing the 8A+ stand some years ago. The 34-year-old and 187 cm tall did six 8B+' last year and also his second 8C, The Story of two world's. (c) Bart Van Raaij

Interestingly, Manu Cornu who did the second ascent thought it was 8C+ but the third ascentionist, Nico Pelorson says he leans more towards 8B+ as it just took him three sessions. It should be noted that Nico has previously downgraded two 9A's.

Natalia Grossman, who was #3 in Meiringen, has done her 13th 8A+ the last year, Euro Trash in Little Cottonwood. In the 8a ranking game, including also four 8B's, the 19-year-old is #7. "Felt amazing to spend some time outside! Surprised myself with a 3rd go send and felt really close on euro roof sit!"(c) Sean Faulkner

How was your feeling in Meiringen understanding that you have taken yet another step?
After taking such a long time away from competitions I didn’t know what to expect. I had been training hard during the previous months before Meiringen and I felt strong, however, I definitely surprised myself with my results! It feels really good to have been able to perform well in all three rounds of the competition and I’m very excited for the rest of the season.

What goes through your mind during the finale and how do you handle the mental pressure?
During the final, I had no expectations and I simply enjoyed the moment. It wasn’t until the last climb when I realized that if I got the zone I would secure my spot on the podium. Knowing this information made me lose my focus a little bit, but I was able to recenter myself and find a top on the final boulder!

Mental pressure can be tough at time but learning to release any expectations I may be carrying has been very helpful. I’ve also found that if I remember to enjoy the moment, the mental pressure seems to float away and I am able to have fun and stay positive which allows me to try hard and perform to the best of my abilities.

Adam Ondra makes the FA of Yorkshire 8B/+ but fails doing The Edge problem. A few weeks later Martin Stranik did the FA (video) of possibly, "the hardest 8B+ in the Galaxy", according to Adam.

La Sportiva presents Hura (free) the short movie dedicated to the young climber of Egyptian origins. The difficulties, struggles and revenge of a Muslim girl who grew up far from home in search of herself. Wafaa was raised was by her grandparents together with her sisters, as her parents had already moved to Italy. At the age of 9, Wafaa joins her parents in the Bel Paese where she encounters and grows up in a totally different world from that of her childhood. She learns a new language, she approaches a different culture, more open to a woman of her age, and she knows climbing for the first time.

In fact, at 15, thanks to the generosity of the father of a friend of hers who pays her for her first course, she begins to practice this new sport, which in a short time becomes for her, a form of pure freedom. Hura, as they call her in Egypt.

For Wafaa, however, practicing sports is not as simple as for other peers: due to her origins and her religion, her father does not approve of certain influences of Western culture in her life and Wafaa is forced to go to the gym in secret to train.

At the age of 18, the scenario is to return to Egypt to continue her life there, as tradition dictates. For Wafaa it is now unthinkable to abandon the life she has built on her own up to that moment, to leave the gym, the holds, the companions who belay for her, the friends, and for this reason she decides to go and stay with friends in Finale Ligure, where she finds a new family, support and understanding. In the Finale area she manages to climb challenging pitches such as "Radical Chic" (first 8a Finalese in Montecucco) and the famous historic pitch "Hyaena", of well-known local Andrea Gallo, signing the second female ascent. In these years Wafaa consolidates her new roots in Liguria by moving to the social farm “Il Bandito e la Principessa”. Today, at the age of twenty-four, Wafaa continues her life in Finale Ligure, dividing herself between passion and work, freely, choosing who she wants to be every day. On top of that, Wafaa Amer joined the La Sportiva athletes’ team in 2019.

Here are the most interesting Speed news from the finals in the Euro Youth Championship that took place today.

1. Alberto Gines Lopez, who will compete in Tokyo, did 6.81.
2. Four golds to Russia and but western Europe is picking up.
3. Leander Carmanns (16) from Germany did 6.36.
4. Nikolay Rusev, who won in Boulder, was #2 with 7.37 training Speed only 2 hours a week.

The European Youth Championship in Perm in Russia is taking place 1 - 5 May. The big sensation during day two was that Alberto Gines Lopez, who has qualified to the Olympics and who was runner up overall in the Lead WC in 2019, after Adam Ondra, was #4. As a matter of a fact, all the three guys on the Junior podium were one year younger than Alberto born in 2002. Here are the first winners. Complete results

Lead 02: Paul Jenft FRA - Lucija Tarkus SLO
Lead 04: Mejdi Schalk FRA - Marketa Janosova CZE
Boulder 06: Nikolay Rusev BUL - Darya Akulova RUS

Noteworthy is that in the girls 06, the bronze was won by Arina Jurcenko who did not manage to score even one zone in the final. She was #3 by countback to the semifinal where she did one top. Out of the 20 girls in the semi, only one more top was achieved!

Mejdi Schalk was the only one winning all three rounds and he did it actually in a superior style.

Dylan Chuat has done his fourth 9a, during the last nine months, Coup de Grace in Ticino. On Insta he comments, "It felt incredible 😍!! I’m excited to find a route really hard which will take me some time to work on and put in a lot of attempts until I make it 😁💪🏼!!" (c) Fedir Samoilov

During the last weeks, the 20-year-old has also done two 8B FAs in Valle Bavona. Last November he was #11 in the Euro Lead Championship in Moscow.

Staša Gejo, who has done five 8A's in 2021, has done her third 8A+ during the last year, Backgammon in Frankenjura and amazingly she took it down on her second session, video.

So how was it possible to take it down in just two sessions?
Well, to be honest, I don't think 8A+ is my realistic upper limit, so I need to try something harder. Additionally, this one really suited me well.

When will you start trying 8B and 8B+?
I tried some, they feel pretty hard, but doable. I need to find something that suits me better 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have time :)

Giuliano Cameroni has done Jimmy Webb's La Rustica in Valle Bavona. "Could never do the crux move for the past years. A few weeks ago I realized that it was possible so I started investing more time into it. Took me three days to stick the crux move and on that same try, I luckily didn’t let go and made it to the top. It was an epic fight haha. Concerning the grade, it personally felt like a very hard 8C."

Previously, the 23-year-old Swizz, has done 18 8C's and harder out of which eight FAs. On Insta he comments, "Perfect rock and moves make this one of the coolest lines I’ve ever seen!"