Loic Zehani, who previously has done 23 routes 9a and harder, has made the FA of Demon 9a+/b in Orgon. The 18-year-old did his first 9a five years ago and has done a total of 13 FAs, 9a and harder.

"A great line that starts in "Sachidananda" then joins the "Bronx" with a new hard and natural hard link-up. A big fight and great conditions were necessary to send this 55 movements monster of resistance. The first 20 movements are ultra powerful (7C+ boulder in "Sachi" and 8A boulder connecting with Bronx). For the difficulty I suggest 9a+/b because it is still significantly harder than Sachidananda 9a+, 😜😉."

Marcin Dzienski one the Speed qualification in Moscow but most interesting, from the Olympic perspective, was that Nicolas Collin was surperior among the non-specialists setting a new personal best at 6.67. In total, 40 athletes participated out of which a dozen high class non-speed specialists. Complete results

One can speculate that the Speed results will have unusually low impact who will make it to Tokyo. The reason for this is that relatively many Speed specialists will probably make it to Top-20, meaning possibly two or three of them will make it to the Top-8 final. In other words, the best of the non-Speed specialists will probably end #3 or #4 which with the multiplication format means, this result has much less importance.

Seb Berthe, who had a personal 8c+ personal best six months ago, reports on Insta that he has done Supercrackinette 9a+ in St Léger. The Belgium is famous for all his big wall adventures around the globe. (c) Julia Cassou Full length interview at Fanatic Climbing.

"It’s my second route in the 9th gr ade, I also climbed “Speed integral” this summer, but may be you missed that because I repeated it very quickly (laugh)! Whatever the grade, it’s all the time incredible to send a route at your limits, with some physical and mental abilities required. After the send, you understand all the things you put together for clipping the anchor. The most complicated the process is, the strongest is the happyness at the end! It’s not the 9th grade which is bringing to me some joy, but the energy I put in the project."

Katie Lamb, who last summer did six 8B's, has done Wet Dream 8A+ in Black Velvet Canyon. In the 8a ranking game, she is #5.

"Wet dream is the most water boulder in the canyon, so I had to be aquatic with my movement - flowing like water, splashing like a whale. During the moment of sending my friends say they felt a flutter in their heart and a twinkle in their eyes. The boulder of my dreams, occupying my every thought. After sending I put all my money on red and also black in the local casino. Now the girls are doing Wet Dreams too :)"

”I was by myself and yes, it was a bit scary. I practiced it with rope a couple of times. It was tricky but safe. But coming from the bottom I was shaking. So before starting I got back to the car to take more pads and I was always ready to fall properly. A nice process as I felt I had to stay focus also on the fall upthere in the mantle.

Here you have Niky Ceria's Insta comments after having done the second ascent of Jimmy Webb's Ephyra 8C+ in Chironico. The Italian, who also recently did The Story of Two Worlds 8C, has probably done a handfull 8C's but we never know as he the last four years never has included grades on his FAs or repeats.

Karoline Sinnhuber has done her eleventh 8A+ the last year, Black Water in Zillertal. In the 8a ranking game, the former competition climber is #8. "Never thought I would be able to climb this one! Total nemesis boulder due to all the shoulder moves, but somehow it worked out quite well and I'm pretty stoked about it :D comparing to other 8A+ this one felt quite hard." Full video on her Insta. (c) Fabian Leu

The Moscow Combined Euro Champions starts on Saturday with the Speed qualifications. Based on the Starting List here are the favorites to grab the two Olympic tickets.

1. Sasha Lehmann SUI
2. Jernej Kruder SLO
3. Jakob Konecny CZE
4. Alexsei Rubtsov RUS
5. Hannes Puman SWE
6. William Bosi GBR
7. Fedir Samoliv UKR
8. Nicolas Collin BEL

It should be mentioned that due to the multiplication format, it is most likely that the winner will be one of the guys winning either in Bouldering or Lead. Why Lehmann is ranked above Kruder is that there are more high class boulderers participating and that coincidence play a bigger role i Boulder. In Lead, Lehmann is the big favorite and on paper, only challenged by Konecny, Puman and Fakirianov.

Among the female, Petra Klingler and Vita Luka are big favorites but as Klingler has already qualified to Tokyo and that Slovenia has filled their country quota, Molly Thompson-Smith should have the best chances of making it to Tokyo. Noteworthy, is that also Alexandra Miroslav and Iuliana Kaplina have qualified to Tokyo. Further more, Krasovskaia is the best Speed climber among the non-specialists. If let us say, the Olympians Alexandra Miroslaw and Iulia Kaplina make it to the final, they just might let Elena Krasovskaia win Speed, as this theoretically would increase their chances getting a bronze in Tokyo. Krasovskaia is not a specialist in any discipline meaning that she with the multiplication format is not a threat in Tokyo. There are already four female specialists that have qualified to Tokyo and with Krasovskaia in the starting list, the chances for a female speed medal increases a lot.

0. Petra Klingler SUI*
0. Vita Lukan SLO*
- Covid-19 positive did not go.
1. Molly Smith-Thompson GBR
0. Alexandra Miroslaw* POL
2. Stasa Gejo SER
3. Elena Krasovskaia RUS
4. Chloe Caulier BEL
5. Eliska Adamovska RUS
6. Alma Bestvater GER
0. Iuliia Kaplina* RUS


Today, the registration takes place and it is quite likely that some of the listed athletes will show up changing the conditions. Then, with a competition running for eigth days, it is also about not getting any Covid-19 symptoms. The athletes will have to bring and use their own ropes and they are put into hotel quarantine beside transportation to the arena and competing. At the venue, there are many new IFSC regulations how to act in order to reduce the risk for getting Covid-19. Here are some examples;

"In order to guarantee the same stay in warm up area to all athletes, the first athletes to climb will be allowed, 45 minutes before their supposed climbing time, to move to the warm up area and next athletes will be allowed every 5 minutes. The isolation/holding and warm up area shall be monitored by the IFSC officials.

Athletes shall wear mask in isolation, holding area and generally when social distancing measures cannot be applied. During observation time all athletes and officials shall wear their mask.

Competition Doctor shall test all the registered Athletes and Team Members before they are allowed to enter isolation / holding area: in case of body temperature (checked with a contactless thermometer) > 37.5 C° or in case of symptoms (i.e. cough, shortness of breath, loss of sense of taste/odour, sore throat, cold, aching limbs) Team Members shall not be allowed in.

No handshakes, no hugs, no kissing from athletes or prizegivers shall be allowed."

Clément Lechaptois has done his third 8C, The Understanding in Magic Wood. "All time bloc from Nalle! Cannot get much better than this." Full story on his Insta and Fanatic Climbing has a full length interview. (c) Marine Thevenet

Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi, who previously has done eight routes 8c+ and 9a, has done Cedric Lachat's Andreas Blues in Citidibi. Cedric put it up as an 8b+ but the 15-year-old thinks it is 8c+. "8c++++ :)))A beast power endurance climb! Spent like two goes to figure out the beta and then circa 10 goes to stick the very last dyno move) Sent it at night with a headlamp, which actually turned out to be the perfect conditions for getting into the famous flow state. A really intuitive and pure climb, super recommended! 15 meters of hard and crimpy moves without rest."

"Even though it's getting harder and harder to visit famous crags in Europe because of the quarantine, Turkey is still open for everybody and can provide awesome climbing conditions, so now is the time to give it a try and discover the beauty and hard projects of these magnificent crags thoroughly developed by Tobias and Duygu Haug, as well as Öztürk Kayikci, Zorbey Aktuyun, Mümin Karabas and all the locals!" More comments and pics by Damien on his Insta.

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done Era Vella in Margalef calling it 8c+/9a although it has become more difficult due to a broken hold. "Very good! What a route. One of the best routes I have ever climbed without a doubt. For me 8c+/9a with my tricks but it is difficult to grade as it is 100 moves without stopping! I will remember the fight today and the two falls on the wall ;)"

The 45 meter excellent route was originally put up by Chris Sharma in 2010, calling it a soft 9a and as a matter of a fact he did the FA during a warm-up attempt. Later it quickly became the most repeated 9a and it has now 40 ascents. As many made personal best down grading and many said it was soft for 9a, 8a started to report it as an 9a (8c+). I also argumented that it was subject of being down graded. In 2015, Jonathan Siegrist made the first real statement saying many 8c's are much harder. He also said that the hardest moves were just like a 7A+ boulder. Later most called it 8c+ and then it was also officially downgraded. Interestingly, since the downgrade, it has only been done once, prior to Jorge's ascent, during 2.5 years! One reason for this is a broken hold making it harder but even so Jorge, says it is not 9a.