During four bouldering days in Targasonne, Nico Pelorson did 22 boulders 8A and harder out of which five flashes up to 8B.

Stefano Ghisolfi was the first one to Top the Lead route which later also Sasha Lehmann, Alberto Gines Lomez and Adam Ondra did. As Sasha 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 is already decided as also Kokoro Fujii and Meichi Narasaki made it to the Top-8 final. The results also means that both France and Germany have filled their max country quota as Japn did in the World Championship. Complete results 1. Adam Ondra CZE 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 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.

Jane Vincourkova, who did her first 8A two weeks ago, has advanced one step further having done Rustam SD 8A+ in Moravský kras, after six days of projecting. "When my boyfriend showed me this problem I totally fell in love with it even it was totally above my limits. Once we went to Moravian Karst, everything I wanted to try was wet so we decided to visit it. As there was still harder topout version for my BF. Surprisingly I did the first two moves, which is the crux, on my flash go. So I decided to invest my time into it. About the Jump in my performance, I started to climb this February after Two years pause, so I think I am just finding right now where my limits and strengths are."

Here is the list of the 8 males and females that according to IFSC has qualified to Tokyo. They have sent out a request for confirmation but Japan disagrees. Update - IFSC has published a list saying 8 + 8 climbers are confirmed, meaning Japan must have accepted that Kai Harada and Miho Nonaka are in. The argument relates to how the selection process in regards the host country allocation should be interpreted. IFSC thinks Japan should not be allowed a special host place as they got two qualified in Hachioji WCH. The document gives no exact answer but it is a well-known fact that the Japan Federation has planned to select their host place at a later stage. It should be mentioned that in the qualifying document, including the strict time schedule how to confirm, etc an allocated quota place, IFSC has forgotten to mention details for the host quota place. 8a has several times explained the qualification process based on how Japan also has understood it. What is a bit strange is that IFSC has not earlier said this intertretation is wrong. IFSC should know that the Japan Federation, 8a and other media as well as coaches, have interpreted the host qualification procedure differently.

Canadian Climbing News reports that the Japanese climbing federation has filed suit with the Court of Arbitration in regards IFSC changing the selection for Tokyo qualification without explanation. "Snippets of information about Team Japan had been emerging all week, with the website 8a.nu reporting the Harada and Nonaka news several days ago. Harada confirmed to CCN on Tuesday that he had indeed been chosen for Tokyo 2020, while Nonaka said she still had not heard from the Japanese federation. At that time, representatives from the JMSCA did not return messages seeking clarification." Full story in Japanese.

Theo Blass has done his first 8b, Bertane at Saint Guilhem le Desert after 5-6 tries during two days. Three months ago he sent another 8b on top rope. Previously a hand full 9-year-old's including Brooke Raboutou have done a 8b. His father Vlad, who did an 8c in 2017, gives us the nice and impressive story. "When he was about 7 he started climbing more regularly - about 1-2 times per week on rock and 1-2 times indoors. He had a good progression in the last year, jumping from 6b to 8b in about 15 months. He only started leading about 6 months ago and is still scared to lead some times. His training is mainly indoor bouldering (at the moment about twice per week but this changes all the time - he boulders when he feels like it - some weeks he could do 5 sessions per week and then not boulder for entire weeks ) - no proper training yet as he is too young. Also he loves other sports (running, skiing, judo, mountain biking). "

The Combined calculation format does not favor the best overall but instead the ones winning at least one discipline. An overall good climber being 7 - 8 - 8, scores 448 at the same time another one scoring 1 - 20 - 20, gets 400. If the sum would have been used the overall good climber would have gotten a much better score at 23 compared to 40, for the very uneven climber. Nikolai Iarilovets, scoring #16 in Lead, #13 in Bouldering and #6 in Speed (6.26) was one of the best scoring on a high level in each discipline 2019. With another set of rules, he would have had chances to get a medal, now he will most likely not make it to Tokyo. The best overall climber, measured my the sum of all three disciplines was Tomoa Narasaki 1 - 3 - 26. In comparison, Rishat Khaibullin #3 in Hachioji and qualified to Tokyo, who is the high performer Speed climber who also is relatively good in Lead and Boulder, did score 13 - 41 - 42.

Matteo Menardi, who did his first 9a five years ago at age 15, has done his seventh 9a, Water World in Osp/Misja Pec. "The difficult part is long more or less 30 moves, then good rests and the unique Osp cave style. Definitely a 55 metres benchmark for this crag." What about going for a 9a+? I have a lot of ideas, trying routes in the Arco area is one of them. I would also like to travel more. Margalef, Ceuse and Flatanger are the first areas that come to my mind.