Alex Khazanov, who won one Boulder World Cup last year, has done Inception 8c+ and his second 9a, Climb Free in Nezer Cave. Both routes were bolted by Ofer Blutrich and opened by Adam Ondra and Climb Free as the first 9a in Israel. "Since more than one year I had the focus to try to make it to the Olympic games. A task that proved to be harder than seemed haha Focusing on the competitions, and specifically, the fact that I had to train all three disciplines, made climbing outside not an option. I know some people can do both, but unfortunately for me, I am not one of them. Coming back from Japan, I realized that something had to change. I forgot why I love climbing so much. I was training because I had to, not because I wanted to. So, I went outside, to remember why I climb. I knew that Adam has put up some hard routes in Nezer cave, so I went to check them out. I had no idea what to expect both from my fitness level on rocks, but also from the route itself. A few people tried to climb free, but no one could figure out the moves of the crux, so this route became a sort of a mystery. With a big fight and a lot of good vibes and fun, I ended up doing it on my first try of the second day. At the moment I feel in the best shape of my life (even though the comps may not reflect it) and I am excited to see what can I do. In December I will head to Spain to see what I am capable of, and perhaps after that, I will go to Ticino for some bouldering. Wow, just talking about it makes me psyched. I missed rock climbing!

Chaehyeon Seo, the 16 year old who won the Lead World Cup, got both titles in the Asian Championship in Bogor. She will not compete in Toulouse as she did not do any Boulder WC's this year. Her only possibility to qualify to Tokyo will be the Asian Combined Championship next spring. In the Speed event in Bogor she did 10.54. In the Combined Championship, Seo was only #4 as she was only #4 in the Boulder final. Overall winner was Speed specialist Iqamah Nurul from Indonesia. Among the male, Kokoro Fujii won in Lead but in his best discipline, he was beaten by Katsura Konishi, who never has done a World Cup. Fujii won also the Combined event with 6,61 as his fastest time in Speed. Interesting is also that Veddriq Leonardo from Inonesia won the Speed event at 5,406 beating the world record with 0,07 but as this has not been reported by IFSC, probably the wall was not certified. Noteworthy is also that Rishat Khaibullin, #3 in the Combined WCH, was just #7.

IFSC has published the start list to Toulouse including 20 males and females. Further down, they have listed Jernej Kruder, Aleksei Rubtsov, Sandra Lettner and Iuliia Kaplina as "Subject to IOC confirmation". As have been mentioned before, the reason for this is that the IFSC selection rules was not according to IOC rules, it seems. However, as Kai Harada and Miho Nonaka were not included, the appeal from the Japanese federation against IFSC must have been dismissed. Anyhow, even though Japan has filled their max 2 country quota, four males and two females will be allowed to participate in Toulouse. It is the Top-6 who will get a ticket to Tokyo, however, the result of the Japanse will be excluded. The same goes also for any other country that fills the max quota.

Paul Robinson has published a video of him doing The Insurgency 8B+ in Joe's Valley. Later he was told that the boulder starts one move lower meaning that his 8B+ ascent is not valid and we asked him for a comment. "I was going to the insurgency which is just a random start on the wall. I asked some of the local climbers who told me they thought it started where I did. But I guess it starts lower one move. No matter where you begin it is a stand start." Personally, I think a boulder should start from the holds you reach. Sure there are many exceptions when it comes to hardcore boulders and especially sit starts. Furthermore, in rare cases, there are crunched starts from defined holds by the FA. The reason for defining starts is normally that the FA wants to maximize or adjust the difficulty from his capacity. Sometimes this creates confusion and even controversies like in this case. Personally, talking in general terms, it seems a bit contrived to add one move for a natural standing start but sure there are of course good reason also for this in unique cases. It is important to say that any person is allowed to start anywhere but on the other hand, possibly a new name and grade should be given once not doing the same challenge the FA set up. So possible Robinson did just Insurgency 8B in this case?

Thomas Lindinger has done the fourth ascent of Toni Lamprecht's Bokassa's Frigde - Assassin Monkey and Man in Kochel. Originally suggested as an 8C+ back in 2009, Lindinger calls it his first 8C. "I started to work Bokassas last autumn when Chris Rauch figured out a shorty beta for the stand. Being able to climb the stand also made me think about the 8C for the first time. It took me five sessions this season to get it done Overall about 10-15 sessions I guess. I think the key to climb my first 8C was the possibility to try it often as it isn’t far away from Munich and that it fits my style perfectly."

Jernej Kruder, winner of the World Cup in 2018, has done his fourth 8C, Dreamtime in Cresciano. "On the first few sessions already falling from the last move. I can't believe I needed more than 16 days for this one. Low percentage moves made it difficult for me, even though they didn't feel too hard. Dream line *****." The Slovenian got an invitation to the Toulouse Olympic qualification some two weeks ago. Due to that IFSC changed one rule and that the Japan Federation has sued IFSC, it is no longer certain if he can go. IFSC has officially said they have "freezed" the invitations. What makes the situation really bad on Kruder's side is that he decided to skip the last WC as he had, based on the original rules, calculated that he already had secured him a spot to Toulouse.

Jakob Schubert, who just did his first 9b+, reports on Insta that he has flashed Victimes del Futur in Margalef calling it 8c+/9a. It is a 30 meter 8b+ followed by a 7C+ boulder crux at the top which was put up by Ramon Julian Puigblanque in 2015 as an 8c. Later some holds broke and all repeaters before Schubert have called it 9a. (c) Julia Cassou

Giuliano Cameroni, who previoulsy has done 15 boulders 8C and 8C+, has made the FA of Gran Paradiso 8B+/8C. "Few weeks ago, on the first day in Valle dell’Orco, Bernd Zangerl showed me this incredible project, one of the most unique line I’ve seen on granite: stem gem intro on a super steep dihedral is followed by a very powerful shoulder section that leads into Bravirabi, a 5 stars highball. Due to tricky conditions I had to wait till the last day of the trip, when the good grip allowed me to send both this and Il Colonel!"