Kai Harada, Boulder World Champion in Innsbruck, is last out on the final route that looked too easy as three had topped before him. It seems he is on cruise mood until he falls as he could not hold the top jug. If he had topped he had won but now he did not even get a medal. Furthermore, if Kai had won he would have been the favorite to win overall as he just needed to be #6 the next weekend to overtake Adam, who will not compete. Instead, Adam secured the overall title although just participating in three events out of which he won all. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Adam Ondra CZE Top 2. Taisei Homma JPN Top 3. Tomoa Narasaki JPN Top

Three tops and three girls falling from the last hold, including Janja Garnbret, and at the end Chaehyeon Seo (15) got her fourth straight victory, on countback, and secured the overall title. The 15-year-old topped all four route with ease as it looked. Talking about the Olympics, Seo has not participated in any Boulder WC's so her only possibility to make it will be through the Asian Combined Championship. Including also all the Tops and ties in both the semis and quallies, the route setting must have the worst separation since IFSC started with World Cups in 1989. Both coaches and athletes are using the word scandal to describe what they just witnessed. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Chaehyon Seo KOR Top 2. Akiyo Noguchi JPN Top 3. Jain Kim KOR Top Complete results

Obed Hardmeier has done his second 9a in Gimmelwald, Alpenbitter. "I tried Alpenbitter for the first time in June this year. In July and August I had to focus on exams for my full-time study. After the exams, I was very motivated for rock climbing again, so I started projecting Alpenbitter and made good progress. All in all, it took me seven sessions until I could climb this great line. The first section consists of some powerful moves to a bad rest point, from where you climb into the crux (maybe a 7C/+ boulder problem of four moves). After a good rest, the last few meters to the anchor are no more harder than a 7c route. Today, the conditions were exceptional with stormy winds and very dry holds. Special thanks to all the people who have been supporting me these days – it is a great privilege to climb together with a super motivated "Gimmelwald-Crew"!"

The bad route setting, in regards separation, continued also in the semi where 15 women reached 33+, meaning countback decided who made it to the final and who was #22. Janja Garnbret, Chaehyon Seo and YueTong Zhang topped. Three from Japan to the Top-8 final and beside two from Slovenia non from Europe made it through. Among the male, Kai Harada topped and then eight guys were tied at 31+ including another three from Japan. Interestingly, USA got two through accompanied by Adam Ondra and Alberto Gines López.

France dominated the European Youth Championship in Lead by taking four golds. Slovenia was runner up with a total of four medals. Out of the big countries, Germany was once again not performing at the top level with just three finalists, the best-ranked #5. 00: Luka Potocar SLO - Nina Arthaud FRA 02: Paul Jenft FRA - Camille Pouget FRA 04: Gergö Valyi HUN - Oriane Bertone FRA It should be mentioned that the route setting and the organization etc were as ever at the highest level in Russia.

Alexander Rohr and Katherine Choong have done Jungfraumarathon in Gimmelwald. Here is Choong's report with a picture by Julia Cassous. "Gimmelwald is a magical place. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains in a peaceful valley where, apart from a few cow bellows and the screams of climbers falling under the relay, it is an extremely peaceful place. A waterfall a few meters above our heads, it's my favorite place. It's therefore quite natural that I chose this place to invest time and energy in a new project. The route is about twenty meters, overhanging (35/45 degrees), with hard movements on bad holds. The crux consists of holding a bad shoulder to go far for a pinch. Since last year, I have been falling into this movement that consists for dwarves like me in a very dynamic movement that I could not succeed in the redpoint attempt. I started last year in October. I quickly found my beta and I was already falling into the dynamic movement of the crux. Very close to clip the chain in November 2018, the snow forced me to stop. The bad weather in the spring did not let me go back until early June 2019. It's not a good excuse but it was hard for me with the extreme heat of summer. In parallel, I started the world cups at the beginning of July, which didn't go well. I arrived at the end of the summer and finally, I had not progressed at all in my project on the cliff, on the contrary, and at the end of the first part of the disastrous competition season. I was stubborn in my method in the crux of Jungfrau Marathon and I was beginning to have doubts about my ability to clip the chains one day. No remarkable ascent this year outdoor, no very good results in comps, it became very difficult mentally to keep the motivation and confidence in me and it was felt in my attempts in the route. Last week, not even able to reach the crux, a friend finally suggested that I should try the guys' method, which involves putting my foot further sideways. 100% sure that I had tried this method the year before and that it didn't suit me, I still try the beta and I finally could do the movement almost statically, a relief for me! Then something clicks in my mind and I was again motivated and confident. The next session the route was ticked at the 1st try of the day! I really feel a little stupid for persisting with my method, convinced that the guys' method was too morpho for me. It was a memorable day, surrounded by many friends who encouraged me, sharing this moment with them made it even more special. When I clipped the chains, it was, first of all, an explosion of joy. The joy of having once again exceeded my limits physically but above all mentally. All the effort, the time invested, the sweat, the frustration finally made sense."

Aries Susanti Rahayu sat a new world record with 11 hundreds at 6.995 in the final race against Yiling Song. Among the male QiXin Zhong won at 7.208 as his opponent fell. Complete results Overall Yiling Song and Bassa Mawem won. Complete results

The second male qualification route was topped by 35 guys of the 53 starting, including a dozen Speed specialists. In other words, out of the ordinary Lead climbers, more than 80 % made it! In total, eight male topped both routes. Among the female, it was possibly also a record of tops as we saw 22 women clipping the top anchor out of 51 starters, including a dozen speed specialists. Confirming the bad route setting, 19 females scored 35+ on the first lead. Complete results

Rock & Ice comes with the great news that the Access Fund's work have ended with the first climbing law in U.S - the Emery County Public Land Management Act "Nothing in this part prohibits recreational rock climbing activities in the wilderness areas, such as the placement, use, and maintenance of fixed anchors, including any fixed anchor established before the date of the enactment of this Act- (1) in accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); and (2) subject to any terms and conditions determined to be necessary by the Secretary."