Tim Reuser, who was #11 in the Lead World Championships last year, has had a great progress in 2020, peaking with a recent trip to Fionnay. His 4-days ticklist includes; two 8A+ flashes; Permanent Midnight (pictured) and Scarred for life high, his first 8C, Foundations Edge and two 8B+' Scarred for Life and Pied de biche, the latter suggesting an 8B personal grade. Until 2019, the 26-year-old had just done one boulder harder than 8A+!

"It took me three days to do Foundation Edge but I already prepared for it for over a month, watching videos, visualizing the moves in my head, etc. So when I arrived I was surprised by how “good” the holds felt as in was expecting them to be way worse. That gave me a lot of confidence. Later that day I also flashed Permanent midnight. The day after I sent Scarred for life in the morning and Pied the bieche at the end of the day.

During the first day, in between trying his 8C project he did his first 8A+ flash. "Feeling strong, I went for a flash on Scarred for life high. I could feel all the holds from the ground so I knew what to expect. The flash go was a success. After this, I worked in the first half of Foundation’s edge. I was surprised how good the holds felt but when I did the drop knee move I was totally stuck. I tried this move for a few hours but realized this wasn’t gonna work out. That evening I rehearsed the moves in my head and came up with a different solution which I tried the next day which actually worked."

How can you explain your recent peak performance and what is your next plan?
I have been training quite a lot since the gyms are open again in the Netherlands. I recently discovered training on the moonboard. The typical small and awkward to grab holds were really something I needed to work on. I’m typically an indoor climber and used to climb on perfect ergonomically shaped holds. The Moonboard holds are the total opposite and resemble outdoor climbing way better in my opinion. This made my transition from indoor to outdoor more smooth. My goal is to do some more outdoor bouldering trips this year. And next year I want to focus more on routes again.

Fanatic Climbing reports that Pierre Le Cerf has done PuntX in Gorges du Loup suggesting an upgrade to 9a+ due to three broken holds. The 20-year-old, who previously has done three 9a’s, needed some 15 sessions to take it down. (c) Océane Pastor

Rishat Khaibullin was the biggest sensation in the Combined World Championship last year, getting the bronze after finishing seventh in Speed event and then winning it in Combined. Interestingly, the 24-year-old is not a Speed specialist and as he says he find it, "awfully boring", he had just trained it once a week but nevertheless improved from 6.85 to 5.83 in the Speed WCs during 2019.

Since a couple of years, the Kazakhstani lives in Czech Republic and since the last year in Brno where he often trains win Adam Ondra. In Briancon he was #11 after having been #5 in the qualification which can be compared to #44 in his best performance during the last two years World Cups.

With the multiplication scoring in Tokyo, this means there is actually a realistic chance that he could copy his bronze also during in the Olympics. He just needs to win Speed, beating three specialists, and to be ranked #5 out of eight in either Lead or Boulder. Another possibility is that if he is second in the Speed qualification, he could still make it to the Top-8 final by being around #12 in Lead or Boulder.

As a matter of a fact, one realistic option for the three Speed specialists that have qualified to Tokyo to get a medal, is to win the Speed qualification and hope that also Rishat makes it to the final. Then scoring 1 - 7 - 8 = 56 in the final could be good enough to get a medal if Khaibullin is runner-up in the Speed final. In other words, in such case, the Speed final will likely be the sub six seconds race who likely will get the bronze.

In any case, let us hope that Khaibullin makes it to the final as he has much better chances to score a decent result in both Boulder and Lead, in comparison to three Speed specialists. It should also be said that with the recent 5.8 personal best by Tomoa Narasaki, the three Speed specialist as well as Khaibullin, none of the three Speed specialist or Khaibullin might qualify to the final. On the other hand, if they make it to the final, their bronze possibility have improved if Narasaki wins by scoring something like scores like 1 - 2 - 3. Overall, it is very good for the Olympics that Khaibullin has improved in Lead and Boulder as well as Narasaki has improved in Speed.

Dani Fuertes has done P con fin mas hulk extension 9a in Rodellar, which was open by Dani Andrada in 2007. The 39-year-old did his first out of a dozen 9a in 2009. (c) Marta del Prado

"The route begins with Proa, an 8A sit start boulder. It is quite tense... crimps and a lot of core. You climb like this doing fin de Ali to a kneebar where you must get the rope to begin Hulk extension, the classic 8c in Rodellar."

Martina Demmel, who was #24 in Briancon, has during the last three weeks onsighted 15 routes 7c to 8b and the 18-year old is #1 in the onsight ranking game last month, including also the male. This is the first time in the 8a history a female is ranked ahead of all male! Interestingly, she is also ahead of all male when it comes to the Top-100 onsights the last year, as well as in the Top-100 routes the last month!. Only in 2020, she has onsighted 82 routes 7c and harder and in total, she has done 131 routes 8a and harder including nine 8c's, all of them done within a couple of sessions. (c) Christian Seitz

8b: Radote jolie pépère, "Things like this only will happen when you don't expect them at all! Just wanted to boulder up once to warm up for an onsight in the left one but directly found myself clipping the chains of this exposed king line as well:)) two bouldery sections separated by a big rest; couldn't see anything while coming around on this edge in the 2nd crux as the sun was still in the wall..."
8a+: Beauté de chine in Tournoux, Encore in Céüse
8a: Bouse de douze in Céüse and Cost of Freedom in Tournoux

"So in general I don't wanna spent the whole trip trying only a few hard routes I rather wanna get an insight to the place by climbing as many different routes as possible mostly the classics or those who simply look impressive. By climbing lots of different styles I'm slowly getting more comfortable in reading which saves a lot of power and tries as I may find the almost perfect solution for my small size pretty fast. Furthermore, the main reason why I really enjoy onsight climbing because I can decide much more intuitively, be more in the moment without thinking about anything else and to not know what's ahead of you makes this kinda challenge pretty attractive for me. On the other side, I'm psyched to see where my redpoint limit is as well but this isn't what motivates me at the moment maybe in a few weeks, months who knows;) still a lot to learn on keeping up the motivation in a longterm project🔥😊 I don't have any plan or strict routine during the day at all just deciding the routes how I feel or where the others wanna climb which keeps the expectations pretty low😉"

Michele Reusa has done his third 8a, Balboa in Tetto di Sarre, his sixth attempt. At the same crag he also onsighted his third 8a, Sogno di Nessuno. The 13-year-old and 175 cm tall trains three times a week in a gym called Kuota 8.10 and then climbing outdoors most weekends.

"I always try onsight up to 8b. Saturday I was close on an 8a+ but I fell missing just two bolts. My goals for 2020 are to do another two 8c's and an 8c+. In September there will be a meeting for the Italian national team and I hope to qualify for the European youth cup."

William Bosi, who did his first 9b this spring, has done his second 8C, Serenata in Impossible Roof after almost ten sessions. "This has been my first big boulder project so it’s been a really cool experience. It feels amazing putting so much time into something that felt desperate and making happen. With the boulder being only 30 minutes from my house I’ve been able to have quite a few sessions and really push myself on a boulder project which has been a super cool experience. Although the line is an eliminate it climbs really nicely. On my last session I slipped on the last hard move missed the boulder mats and badly sprained my ankle. Luckily it healed quickly and I was able to come back this week and get it done"."

What is next and what about the Olympics?
In terms of outdoor projects hard to say, need to finish Mutation (9a+)! I’m still focused on the Olympics but as walls have only just started opening up I haven’t been able to speed climb since March! So just had to do a lot of off wall exercises.

Last year in Toulouse, he was super close to get a ticket in the qualifying event as he was the only one getting a hand on the last boulder after having done the first three.

Loic Zehani, who previously has done 21 routes 9a to 9b, has done three more impressive ascents including his first 8c flash, Stay kratom stay safe in St Leger, Sahara 9a+ in Gargantua and Sang neuf 9a in Pierrot Beach.

"My father flashed me the route. It is his project. Sahara" is a connexion of "Fésert convoité" 8c , "Lunatique" 8c and La fiesta del biceps" 8c+ . It's beginning with a natural boulder section and after it's very resistant. After a 9a and a physical rest, you must do an 8b/b+ very physical too. It's one of the most difficult connexions in the cave. It is unfortunately not a natural route but this is a very interesting effort. Four days before "Sahara", I sent "Sang neuf" 9a at Pierrot beach. It took me 2 days."

Loic's father is Christophe (46) who has done two 8c's in 2020. The last time he did a 9a, out of a handful, was four years ago.