Gabriele Moroni reports on Insta that he has done Demencia senil 9a+ in Margalef after five years of projecting. (c) Marco Zanone "December 2014... That day, I wouldn’t have ever thought I had just started such a biblical process with a lot of trips, amazing days but also some shitty ones, trashed skin, blood and countless meters of tape... But at the end it was all worth it and I have never stopped believing!..." Gabri Moroni has been an active competition climber since 2001 and in 2004, at age 16, he was #3 in the Euro Bouldering Championships. In 2009, he had his best year being #3 overall but it took until 2018, he got his first WC victory. Last year he did not have the chance to compete for Italy as they only focused on the athletes doing all three disciplines.

matteo Soule, who did his first 8b at age 10, has done his first 8c, Résistance in Cantobre. (c) Matthias Paré "It’s a huge achievement for me. My new coach asked me to test me in harder, short and powerful routes out of my comfort zone. I tried again this project in December and needed 10 tries to find the rythm of the route and to arrive fresh in the crux of “Chacaito” (ndlr 8b+)." Next up is Nadesja 8c+/9a, where he already has done all moves. Source Fanatic Climbing

IFSC reports that Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association (JMSCA) appeal at CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). "Unanimously, the IFSC Executive Board approved a statement where they condemned the unreasonable appeal proceedings initiated by JMSCA before CAS in the strongest possible terms, as well as the inappropriate use of media communication on several occasions, causing serious damages to the sport as a whole." It seems the appeal relates to that Japan is guaranteed a host place in the Tokyo Olympics and that JMSCA wants to use this position so they can choose anyone they like. IFSC, on the other hand, has already listed the two male and female athletes that will participate. In regards to the Toulouse qualification, IFSC changed the rule very late so that Japan could send athletes to the event even if their country quota was changed. It might be that the first appeal related to that Japan could athletes to Toulouse. It should be underlined that there is no confirmation in regards to the subject of the two appeals so the above is just a speculation.

James Webb, has done his 28th 8C, Lucid Dreaming in Bishop on his ninth day. On Insta he says that this was his first hard crimp test piece he has tried as he thought he was too big for this type of boulders. " I feel like I’ve always been scared to try these types of boulders because deep down I believed I was going to fail. Sometimes though, you just want to prove to yourself that you can do it. Or at least try damn hard. ". Including also three 8C+, Jimmy is runner-up after Daniel Woods having the most impressive redpoint tick list in the world. Talking about flashes, he is a superior #1 with 117 8A to 8B including his stiff personal grades.

Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen, one of the tallest (187 cm) world class boulderers out there, has done The Story Of 2 Worlds in Cresciano. On Insta he gives some details. "Just to be clear I did it with a kneepad (and liked it this way), my first kneepad experience. Still feels like one of the hardest things I ever did. Probably even harder without the kneepad, didn't try it that way. Respect to all guys who did it OG style."

4sport.ua has published some interesting 9a+ to 9c stats. From the diagram we can see a strong increasing trend of more ascents although there was a drop the last two years of 9a+ ascents. One reason for this could be that many top climbers did not have time to focus on the rock as there were busy qualifying for Tokyo. In the second diagram, we see how superior Adam Ondra is. He has done 66 routes 9a+ and harder which can be compared with Chris Sharma and Alex Megos with 22 and 20 respectively.

Martin Tekles, who was #9 in a World Cup in 2017, has done his first 9a, Sanjski par extension in Osp/Misja Pec. "I tried the route for 5 days, the first part (8c+) took me 3 days. Definitely I great start into 2020. The last years I concentrated very much on competitions and my studies at university that I finished 2018, so not much time left to go outside. And last year also mainly competitions and rehab from a broken foot in February. As comps didn't work out the last two years I wanted to change something for 2020 and go outside much more often, good training and motivation for comps I think. Let's see what 2020 will bring."

Austin Purdy has done his first 8C, The Story of 2 worlds in Cresciano. It was set up by Dave Graham in 2010 and the name refers to the inflated grading system at the time. "It took me 1 session to send the Dagger and then an additional 4 to send Story, although one of those it was raining and the entire ending was wet. Sending Story meant a lot to me because at the time I started climbing the hardest established boulders in the world were 8C and it was a grade that was only reserved for the best climbers in the world, so to me climbing a boulder that hard reaching a level in my own climbing that I never thought I would be able to achieve. Not only that, but the intricacy of the movement of the boulder and the role it played in the possible shift of the 8C grade (since it was so much harder than other 8C's at the time with the old beta) is something that has intrigued me since I first saw videos of the line and learned about its history."

Laura Rogora, who was #2 in the Euro Ch. and later qualified to Tokyo, has done two 9a' (8c+); La Bongada 9a Pal Norte Margalef. Both were set up by Ramon Puigblanque who suggested 8c and 8c+ but later most have said 9a. It seems Ramonet did suggest very hard grades back then for several of his FA's. (c) Sara Grippo The 18-year-old and 148 cm tall did also onsight her first 8b+ by L-mens in Montsant. The young Italian has now done nine routes graded 8c+/9a or harder meaning she is tied #1 in that ranking together with Anak Verhoeven. Including also onsights, she has the best female tick list out there.