David Kompatscher has done his first 8C, Zunami in Saalachtal. Actually, until 2020, his hardest boulder during the last two years was doing a couple 8A's. Uncut video.

"I already got close to sending the boulder three years ago, but then a knee injury stopped me from trying it because there is an essential hook, which is really demanding for the knee. Some weeks ago I gave it a try again - the knee felt good and I got really close. All in all, I invested around 25 to 30 days on projecting the boulder."

Seb Bouin reports on Insta that he has done the first repeat of De l’autre Côté du Ciel (The Other Side of the Sky) 9a in Les Eaux Claires, which Fred Rouhling put up in 1997. "It’s a huge roof really esthetic, it looks likes someone cut it with a knife. The moves are really big and impressive. There are some twist and 360° on the roof on good holds. Almost 100% chipped, but so fun to climb." (c) Julien Nadiras

Seb, who previously has done some 65 routes 9a and harder, has the last month repeated Rouhlings Hugh 9a from 1993 and the first repeat of Akira 9a (b) from 1995. Seb has commented to 8a, "Fred was ahead of his time and part of the reason for my Vintage trip was to salute him. The difficulty of those routes is amazing! At the same time, I can just say all three routes felt 9a."

Viktoriia Meshkova got her second gold by winning Lead ahead of Eliska Adamovska, being the faster climber touching the final jug. Both had previously topped all three routes. Amazingly, Viktoriia did 18 IFSC World Cups last year and her best result was #16! Molly Thompson-Smith got the bronze. It should be mentioned that Chloe Caulier, who was second in Boulder, topped both qually routes but did not show up for the semi. Most probably she retired due to saving her skin and muscles from the Combined Olympic quest starting on Friday. (c) Nikita Tsarev

Among the male, Sacha Lehmann got the Euro title seeming quite in control the whole way. Runner-up was Nicolas Collins who put up the biggest fighting show in the final. First, he chose to land with just one hand on the big sideways double dyno. Later he started to fight harder than the others and in the end, he was screaming like Adam Ondra for several moves. Noteworthy is that the Belgian is the only male athlete who has participated in all three finals and he showed his fingers for the camera and it will be interesting to see if he can get the skin back until Friday. Third was Dmitrii Fakirianov.

It must be said that overall it was a good show and on the live-screaming, we could follow the results in a bar hold by hold. Overall, the route setters and the organizers have done a great job in Moscow.

Viktoria Meshkova won five out of six rounds getting the Lead and Boulder golds in the European Championship in Moscow. This must be one of the biggest sensations in the climbing history as her previous best was #16 out of eleven Lead and Boulder WC's last year. Add to that the quarantine this spring meant just training at her apartment for two months and that she got Covid-19 one month ago. In total, she could just do five sessions in the climbing gym prior to the Euro Championship. (c) Nikita Tsarev

Dmitry Sharafutdinov, the Russian training coach who has won three World Championships and who is famous for mainly done pull-ups as his training regime, says that probably hard physical training 20+ hours a week in her apartment during the two months lockdown is the best explanation.

"The secret of her success is probably the spring lockdown. Everyone was at home. Communication only online. I wrote a training program. At home, Vika performed an enormous amount of physical training. Like me in my best years. 5 times a week, for 4-5 hours. (But the exercises are a secret.) Fingerboard was done regularly. But that was not the main one. Rather, the emphasis was on training large muscles. We used a little bit of everything. But no matter how strange it may sound, I took a lot from figure skating and alpine skiing. Not much with weights, mostly with her own weight.

A month ago, a test for coronavirus gave a positive result and she isolated herself. The disease was mild. She was under the supervision of a doctor of the Russian national command team. As soon as the symptoms went away she began training. Online first, and after negative tests five times at the climbing gym. It's hard for me to say now what played a decisive role. Perhaps rested."

Katie Lamb has done Abaddon 8A+ in Black Velvet and she is #5 in the 8a ranking game.

"Abaddon is my second of the Black Velvet trifecta and a friendly neighbour to my favourite highball, Natasha’s Ball. After doing my usual fifteen lap warmup on Natasha’s Ball (with a sun salutation on the summit each time) I was ready for my project. Abaddon sits right above a Pit of Mordor and I had to be careful not to take the rip of life into the Pit. Luckily two friendly trad climbers passed by and agreed to lie like logs in the Pit, acting like extra pads and being the perfect spotters during the send. With my heart and mind clear, the send felt bang bang!"

Nicolas Milburn, who previously has done two 9a's, has done his second 8C, Southern drawl in Chattanooga. "Definitely my hardest boulder to date! I put about 25 days of work into this thing, but despite all the sessions, it does just feel like another boulder. It's odd to put so much of my soul into a piece of rock in the forest, but I take pleasure from this kind of pursuit. It has been really exciting to mark my progress on this specific boulder. I have been feeling really strong lately, but until now I wasn't really sure where I was at. Now I feel confident I have improved as a climber."

Based on the male qualification, Sergei Luzhetskii is the new favourite, on paper, getting the ticket to Tokyo. His Combined score is 3 - 2 - 21 meaning he is the first-ever Combined athlete performing on a high level in both Speed and Boulder, beside Tomoa Narasaki. Amazingly, he was on an average #67 in the last seven Boulder WCs. Theoretically, he will be #2 in Speed and if he repeats his runner-up position behind Jernej Kruder in Bouldering, he will most likely make it to Tokyo. The head coach of Russia, Dima Sharafutdinov comments, "He was always strong, but injuries prevented. He's finally healthy! Here is the result!"

Noteworthy is also that Sergei was #17 in the Lead qualification but did not show up in semi, meaning that he has gotten one more rest day than the others. Also, Aleksei Rubtsov did not start in the semi so he should be considered a challenger for getting to Tokyo together with Jernej Kruder and Sascha Lehmann. The currently #1 ranked is Nicolas Collin but as he has done all three finals, he should suffer from bad skin and fatigue, meaning he would have to once again make a fight for his life high up there close to the Tops. It needs to be mentioned that there is a "risk" that the bronze will go to the Speed specialists Danyil Boldyrev although he is dead last in Lead or Boulder, if just the other results go his way. Male Combined results.

Viktoria Meshkova is, based on the Combined results, the big favourite as she actually also is a good Speed climber. However, as she probably should be a bit tired and have bad skin, after having done all finals, Chloe Caulier should be a strong contender. Caulier pulled out from the semi, after having won the qualification, mainly due to a knee problem but also in order be in better shape on Friday. The best chances for the bronze should the Kalucka sisters, Aleksandra and Natalia. As the two Speed specialists, both will make it to the Top-8, Stasa Gejo will not benefit to the fullest, of being a relatively very good Speed climber, she most probably will need to win in Boulder in order to make it to Tokyo.

Jernej Kruder from Slovenia, who two days ago become the Bouldering Euro Champion, started up the Combined qualification by possible setting a new PB in Speed with 7.51 which made him surprisingly #8. But then he scored just 34 in Boulder which put him as #13. Now the Slovenian needs the best Lead performance of his life getting at least Top-4 in order to make it to the final. William Bosi is #1 with 10.5 points just ahead of one of the favourites, Sergei Luzhetski at 12 points.

The Speed specialist making it to the final, and most probably will be #4 or #5 there, is Marcin Dzienski who actually made two bonuses. Interesting is that Speed specialist and favourite was just fourth in his best discipline and was possibly the first Speed specialist who made a top in an IFSC Championship. As a matter of a fact, he actually also touched the last hold on one boulder confirming that the boulders were way too easy. In total, ten male topped all four boulders. Based on the complete results, one can speculate that max 380 points are needed in order to make it into the Top-8 final.

Among the female, the double gold winner Viktoria Meshkova, started out excellent in Speed with 9.40 and fifth place where Patrycja Chudziak won, which most certainly will make her #4 or #5 overall. Then in bouldering, Meshkova was just #6 at 34 behind six girls doing all four including Stasa Gejo, Mannah Meul and Eliska Adamovska, who onsighted them all. Based on the complete results, one can speculate that max 380 points are max making it into the Top-8 final.