Lucka Rakovec did climb faster than Mia Krampl in all the three rounds in Speed. Then in Boulder, Lucka was totally superior doing all three boulders at the same time Mia did just get one zone. In total, Lucka got 2 + 5 + 3 moves longer in the three boulders. Then in Lead Lucka recached 31+ and Mia 32. Clearly, it must be obvious for all including Mia Krampl that Lucka Rackovec is a better Combined climber although the IFSC multiplication ranking list says the opposite. Personally I think the word "Combined" means adding the results in all disciplines like it is done in all other Combined sports. Adding the results then Lucka Rakovec would have been #3 in the ranking and Mia Krampl #7! On the other hand, Mia is a Lead specialists who got the silver in the World Championship in Hachioji. During the Boulder final it seemed like she had a back problem. She must have known that her chance to get the ticket was, first of all, to win in Lead and she adopted to that an executed perfectly. (c) Eddie Fowke - Lucka to the left and Mia to the right.

Tomoa Narasaki, World Champion in both Boulder and Combined as well as WC winner 2019, reports on Insta that he has flashed Decided 8B+. Beta was checking the video of Ryuhichi Murai. Adam Ondra and Daniel Woods are also Boulder World Cup winners that have previously have flashed 8B+. (c) Shinta Ozawa

Mia Krampl had a poor start in the Combined final, ending #7 in both Speed and Boulder at the same time as her competitor for the Slovenian slot, Lucka Rakovec was #6 and #3. This meant that the only chance that Mia could get to Tokyo was winning Lead at the same time at Lucka was third. As Mia, who the last four comps had lost to Lucka, did just get 3/4 up the route, starting first, it did not look promising. Then Lucka got just one hold below Mia meaning the only miracle that could get her through was that another one equalled Lucka's score at the same time climbing faster. Furthermore, no other should beat, Mia's highpoint. Then Julia Chanouride did just that and as all the remaining four did not pass Mia's highpoint, the 19year-old got the Slovenian remaining Olympic ticket. Complete results X. Futaba Ito JPN 4 - 1 -7 = 28 1. Julia Chanourdie FRA 3 - 5 - 2 = 30 2. Mia Krampl SLO 7 - 7 - 1 = 49 X. Lucka Rakovec SLO 6 - 3 - 3 = 54 X. Ai Mori JPN 8 - 2 - 4 = 64 3. Iuliia Kaplina RUS 1 - 8 - 8 = 64 4. Kyra Kondie USA 2 - 6 - 6 = 72 5. Laura Rogora ITA 5 - 4 - 5 = 100 Noteworthy is that there were four girls tied on 31+ including also Ai Mori and Laura Rogora. If Laura had been the fastest, she would have been #2 overall instead of being #8 and dead last. If she would have gotten one move further, 32+ instead of 31+, she would have gotten 20 points and won overall! On the other hand, such a result for Laura had moved Krampl from #3 to being #8 and dead last! Furthermore, if the normal rules with countback to the previous round had been used then Julia Canourdie had moved from #2 to #7 and Ai Mori had advanced from #5 to #2. (Pointed out by JLH in the forum.) Adding the results instead of multiplying would have meant Lucka would have been #3 and Mia #7.

Lucka Rakovec from Slovenia started last and executed the four boulders in seven tries, three less than Ai Mori from Japan and nine less than Mia Krampl also from Slovenia. This means probably that Rakovec has qualified to the final. It just might she will have to fight Mia Krampl over the only remaining slot for Slovenia, as Janja Garnbret already qualified. Overall the setting was great were only the five Speed specialists failed to get a top. Anouck Jaubert got all four zones and was pretty close on two tops performing on a much higher level compared to the Speed specialists. However, as she was #4 in Speed she needs more than a miracle to make it to the Top-8 after the Lead event. Noteworthy is that all but two of the non-Speed specialists got all four zones. Complete results (c) Vladek Zumr

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+."