One Olympic spot is supposed to be given to an athlete from a small Olympic nation through the Tripartite Commission. However, as IFSC forgot to invite any such climber, this extra spot will go to the next best climber in the World Championship, respecting the country quota. As it stands, before the Combined Continental Championships, Anouck Jaubert from France and Rudolph Ruana are next in line. However, if let us say Fanny Gibert and Sean Bailay get their ticket in these events, their country quota are filled and they are out. Next in line are Di Niu from China and Michael Piccolruaz from Italy who have to hope Yue Tong Zhang and Stefano Ghisofi do not their tickets in the Continental Champonship. In theory, Ievgeniia Kazbekova #20 in the World Championship and Jernej Kruder #16 in Hachioji could, in fact, make it to Tokyo if all results go their way. Here are my speculations who are most likely to get the Tripartite ticket; Michael Piccolruaz 80 % - Anouck Jaubert 60 % Rudolph Ruana 15 % - Di Niu 39 % Jernej Kruder 5 % - Ievgeniia Kazbekova 1 % It should also be mentioned that Ruana has great chances to get the ticket on his own merit in the Continational Championship. The same goes for Piccolruaz but to a less extent. At the same time, none of the mentioned females are likely to the ticket in the Continental Championship.

1. Kokoro Fujii 5 - 2 - 2 = 20 (c) Vladek Zumr 2. Adam Ondra 8 - 3 - 1 = 24 3. Meichi Narasaki 4 - 1 - 7 = 28 4. Bassa Mawem 1 - 8 - 8 = 64 5. Jan Hojer 2 - 7 - 5 = 70 6. YuFei Pan 3 - 4 - 6 = 72 7. Alberto Gines Lopez 7 - 5 - 3 = 105 8. Nathaniel Coleman 6 - 6 - 4 = 144 Complete results Noteworthy is that Adam Ondra stopped his first Speed heat against Bassa Mawem and then choose to not try any more heats. It was said he was feeling ill but nevertheless he was third in bouldering. Good route setting in terms of separation in the boulder final although two almost vertical walls and one just slightly overhanging. In the final, Adam fell one move from the top and actually Kokoro Fujii just one move behind. This was the Japanese best ever Lead result but he will not go to Tokyo as Tomoa Narasaki and Kai Harada already got the slots in the World Championship. The live streaming lasted almost 4.5 hours out of which 105 minutes for the boulder final. “If I were one hundred percent sure that I would be qualified for the Olympics with the eight place, I would not even start the competition because I felt really sick,” says Ondra just after the competition. As the Japanese team filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee regarding the nomination criteria, Ondra couldn’t be really sure with his qualification for the Olympics: “In this pre-Olympic period of chaos, no one can be really sure of anything. So in the end I decided to enter the competition despite feeling really sick. I was afraid of being eighth and needed to be at least seventh,” Ondra explains his decision.

Fanatic Climbing reports that boulder legend Dai Koyamada has done yet unnamned 8C+ FA. "He described the boulder as a very complicated 10 moves 8B° into a 7C at the lip, with complex and technical moves (he gave no name to his creation). Dai is thinking the grade up to 8C, and gives the 8C+ grade proposition."

Domen Škofic, Lead WC winnwe in 2016 and #3 2018, has done Gancho perfecto suggesting an upgrade to 9a+. It was put up by Chris Sharma as a 9a but then pretty much everyone who has done it has said it is hard for that grade or suggested 9a+. (c) Jan Novak "Yesterday everything came together with my in point movement, perfect conditions, perfect crew, and just enough skin for that one proper try. This route gave me a big and precious lesson. My first feelings on the route were great and I was sure I will send it fast but that was not the case Process lasted for three whole weeks, I spent a lot of tries on it, I pulled my tendon just after few days on it and I felt like I won’t be able to climb in Margalef for a very long time. I spent resting and healing my skin more than ever in my climbing career. I had to wait two weeks and climb other routes that my skin would heal enough to try it again. I had 3 good tries separated in 3 days. The third one was the one and the feeling was and still is amazing. It’s for sure one of the best and the hardest routes I have ever done. This is my 17th 9a or harder and in my opinion, it deserves a grade of 9a+."

"Out in the league of his own in the Speed wall was French Champion Bassa Mawem." This is not correct. Bassa beat Alfian Muhammed by 0.04 seconds which gave the French an Olympic ticket. #3 Jan Hojer was 0.73 seconds behind Alfian.

Stefano Ghisolfi was the first one to Top the Lead route which later also Sascha Lehmann, Alberto Gines Lopez and Adam Ondra did. As Lopez tied Stefano's time, by the second, and later Ondra, climbing last, was the fastest, Ghisolfi lost his Olympic dream and instead finished #12. Although there will be a final on Saturday the six spots to Tokyo are already decided as also Kokoro Fujii and Meichi Narasaki made it to the Top-8 final. The results also mean that both France and Germany have filled their max country quota as Japan did in the World Championship. Complete results 1. Adam Ondra CZE (c) Vladek Zumr 2. YueFei Pan CHN 3. Alberto Gines Lopez ESP 4. Jan Hojer GER 5. Bassa Mawem FRA X. Kokoro Fujii JPN 6. Nathaniel Coleman USA X. Meichi Narasaki JPN Another dramatic example of how much impact Speed had in Lead. If Sasha had been the fastest to Top, he had made it to Tokyo instead of being #15.

Iuliia Kaplina, overall WC winner in 2016 who has won 12 WC's but who has had her worst Speed season for several years in 2019, set a WC PB with 7.37 and won the Speed event ahead of YiLing Song at 7.416. Third was 6.995 world record holder Aries Susanti Rahayu with 7.461 after having slipped in both her races. As there were a total of five Speed specialists dominating, there are still good chances for YiLing Song to advance to the final but Aries needs a miracle. Best by the non-Speed specialist was Kyra Kondie with 8.891 but as she anyhow was just #6 it does not have as much impact with the current multiplication system. Complete results

YiLing Song, the Speed specialist who was #2 in that event, was the lucky #9 overall and nevertheless got a ticket although not making it to the Top-8a final. The reason for this is that both Ai Mori, the only one to Top out, and Futaba Ito can not get a ticket as the Japan country quota has already been filled. Furthermore, the Slovenians, Lucka Rakovec #2 overall and Mia Krampl #3 overall, are fighting for only one remaining place to Tokyo. X. Ai Mori JPN 44 1. Lucka Rakovec SLO 45 2. Mia Krampl SLO 120 3. Laura Rogara ITA 256 X. Futaba Ito JPN 392 4. Julia Chanourdie FRA 420 5. Iuliia Kaplina RUS RUS 441 6. Kyra Kondie USA 528 9. YiLing Song CHN 760 Complete results Unlucky #10 overall was Fanny Gibert. If she had done one more move she would have advanced to the Olympic. In any case, she will have one more chance during the European Combined Championship. Noteworthy is that USA has now filled their quota meaning the Allanah Yip from Canada is the big favorite to get the ticket in the Combined Pn-American Championship. It should also be mentioned that three female speed specialists have qualified to Tokyo. Furthermore, it is almost certain that either Anouck Jaubert or Di Niu will get the Tripartite ticket. This means that we could end up with two female Speed specialists getting through to the final and one of them getting a medal.

The Speed qualifying event in Tououse turned out to be super dramatic. After the first round, Bassa Mawem was #1 with 5.731. Then Alifan Muhammed beat him doing 5.726, i.e he was 0.005 seconds faster. In front of his home crowd, Bassa improved his time with getting 5.687. This means that most probably Bassa Mawem has secured a spot in the Olympics, like his brother Mickael previously did. The only risk is in fact if Manuel Cornu also makes it Top-8 and beat him in the final, filling up the country quota. Other than that Jan Hojer set a new PB with 6.456 as #3. If the German also is Top-3 in bouldering, most probably he should also advance to the final even if he is dead last in Lead. It should also be good enough to be #5 in Boulder and #12 in Lead. One uncertainty is if Yannick Flohe fills up the country quota. Noteworthy was also that Adam Ondra did set a new PB with 7.464 which was almost sensational as he previoulsy mainly has done 8+ seconds races. Complete results (c) Vladek Zumr