Rei kawamata, who last year was #5 in the Moscow World Cup, has done his first 8C, Asagimadara in Mizugaki. Amazingly, the 16-year-old took it down in just 90 minutes.

Nomura Shinichiro has done his sixth 8C, Byakudo in Hourai. It took him nine days to do the Dai Koyamada problem consisting of 22 moves in a 150 degree roof. " As you know one finger holding has a huge risk of injury, at the same time it gives me a fear. So I usually hung on finger board by one finger to control the fear, and I climbed the routes I made for one finger training in Gym. Next I'll try Hallucination 8C and Off the Wagon Sit 8C+."

Giuliano Cameroni has done his tenth 8B+ FA, Liquid Nails in Brione. (c) Kevin Takashi Smith "New climb in Brione starting on Ganymede and climbing all the way into the end of on Frogger! Took me one day to figure out the moves and then did it second try on the second day. The crux consists on grabbing into two small holds with a huge heel hook, making the climb high percentage but really crimpy and condition dependent".

How has the Coronavirus affected your daily climbing life? Of course, it’s a bit difficult to not go anywhere, especially since the weather is so amazing right now here in Innsbruck, Tyrol. But at least I have a nice garden where I can still enjoy the sun and fresh air. We already installed our beastmaker outside with some ropes since it couldn’t hold the walls inside anymore. We broke it down half a year ago, so we had to be creative to mount the beast maker outside. By now we have two hang boards outside, so everyday we do a couple things out here. What is really cool is that I’m living together with Michael Piccolruaz, a South Tyrolean who has a good chance to become an Olympian as well, so we’re training together and it’s always easier if you’re two. It’s way more motivating and fun. I’m also trying to use the time to work on some weaknesses like mobility and flexibility, so I’m stretching and I do mobilization exercises, but to be honest, I always hated these parts of the training. I’ve always been the person who’s super psyched and motived to climb as much as possible but things like stretching and hang boarding I’ve never really enjoyed that much, so it’s not the easiest for me. I definitely try and put the effort in and take this opportunity to grow as a person and work on the things I don’t like as much. Other than that I’m lucky that also my girlfriend is at my place so I get to spend time with her. Besides climbing I have a second passion, online gaming, and it’s a good time to connect with some friends and play some games.

Rafa Fanega, who started climbing 29 years ago, has done his first 9a with the FA of Suspiro in El Chorro. The 163 cm tall did his first, out of ten 8c+', six years ago when he was 39 years old. (c) Iván Sabo Rafa says he has been trying the route for two years but not regularly as he also was doing other routes as well as equipping new ones. He explains that it is the love for climbing and putting up routes that are the reason for him continuing to progress. It should be mentioned that the ascent was done one week ago. Rock climbing is no longer allowed in Spain since this Monday.

IFSC informs that also the Combined Championships in Cape Town and Sydney are postponed due to the Coronavirus. In the latest communique it is said that the last spots to Tokyo might be based on historical results. "1. All quota places that have already been allocated to date remain allocated to the NOCs and athletes that obtained them. 2. The possibility remains to use existing and scheduled qualification events, wherever these still have fair access for all athletes and teams. 3. All necessary adaptations to qualification systems and all allocation of remaining places will be: a) based on on-field results (e.g. IF ranking or historical results); and b) reflect where possible the existing principles of the respective qualification systems (e.g. use of rankings or continental/regional specific event results)."