In the last Speed event in 2019, Sol Sa made it to the final by setting a personal record by 8.71. Among the male, Kokoro Fujii was best of the non-specialist with 6.58. Otherwise it seems Speed climbing has not been prioritized lately among the best Lead and Boulderers as most were slower compared to the World Championship. Who among the Speed specialist who will make it to Toulouse will be decided after the final.

Within two weeks, after the two last Lead and the last Speed WC's, we will know who made it to the Toulouse Olympic qualification. It is the relative ranking in each discipline that counts. Even if there is no more Boulder event, that relative ranking will change as some who have not yet competed in two events in each discipline is missing in the ranking, for example, Adam Ondra. At this point, it is almost impossible to predict who will make it as there are too many uncertainties and we could also add some speed climbers fairness dilemma. Thee are at least six Speed male specialists that still have the chance and almost certain Bassa Mawem and Nikolai Yarilovets will make it. Also, Alifan Muhammed and Aleksandr Shikov can make it but in reality, their best chance is actually that few compete. Another option is simply that some of the guys that already have qualified, or athletes from the same nations, actually loose on purpose in the last rounds. The more Speed climbers in Toulouse, the greater the chance for them to make it to Tokyo. Among the female, it is a similar situation. YiLing Song, Aleksandra Kalucka and Aries Susanti will most probably make it to Toulouse. Furthermore, Andrea Jojas and Rong Jiang, have great chances. Then we have Elena Krasovskaia and Rong Jiang who are good Speed Climbers. What makes it delicate, is that there will most likely come a situation where two climbers from a big Speed climbing nation like Russia, China or Poland, where it could be strategically to let the climber with the best chance to make it to Toulouse actually win.

Matilda Söderlund, #6 in the WCH in 2012 and who then focused on her studies, has done The Elder Statesman in Frankenjura, which is a direct version of The Last Rites 8c+, which she sent yesterday. Amazingly, she only needed four sessions to do her first 9a. (c) Sammy Dahlman "It is a hard boulder with the hardest move involving a mono. It suites me perfectly. Long moves on super small holds." This is what she reported yesterday after having done the 8c+ version. "The Last Rites was my first project of this trip. It suits me very well with the small crimps. I was in Frankenjura in April and after that trip I decided to return again in October, so I’ve been preparing for this trip since then. It seems like training is paying off, mainly working on my power. Next on my list of routes here is the direct start of The Last Rites! (9a)."

Matt Fultz has done the first repeat of Adain Robert's 8C, Railway in RMNP. "It took three sessions which included a day in June which was way too hot. It was my style for sure, total board climb." This was his fourth 8C, all of them done the last six months and he is #5 in the 8A ranking. Looking at the trend diagram, the 28-year-old should be at least Top-3 next year.

Aleksandra Taistra has done the 11 pitches Hotel Supramonte in Sardina, including two 8b pitches. She started working on it last year and this year it has been an ongoing project since last month. " In our second day of climbing (with 2 days rest between) I was able to finish my dream with a big smile on my face :) This day I climbed quite fast. I needed 5 hours to climb 1st 6 pitches (7b+, 7c+, 8b, 8a+, 8b, 7c). When I arrived at the last pitch 6b+ the stressful situation started. I had to climb 50m of poorly protected (2 bolts) 6b+ in complete darkness. I got lost in the wall and tried to improve my trad skills ;) My climbing partner Simone Papila was great support that gave me faith that I climb each pitch and finish my story with Hotel this day. I also would like to thanks Valter De Lucia for fantastic support last season. I have never supposed how big an effort it would be to climb so many pitches in a row without giving up. I would like to express myself well but it’s quite hard to speak about feelings that everybody should experience alone to understand what is going on.”

In 2016, Chris Sharma did the FA of Alasha, named after his daughter, after five years of projecting. He did not grade it but said it was similar in the difficulty of Es Pontas which he did also not grade but where 9a+ seems to be the consensus. The crux is at 18 meters and this Sharma thought was like an 8B boulder.

One dilemma with boulder comps is that they take too long time and because of this the 4+ min rule was replaced with 4 min flat. Furthermore, in the Olympics, there will be only three problems separating the boulderers. Another dilemma is the lack of action which made Doha Beach Games try a rule saying that you had to get the zone in 2 min to have the full 4 min. This did not turn out so well as nobody of the male did get a zone in the final problem. One solution for reducing the time and at the same time increase the action could be to have a 2 + 3 min rule similar to in Doha and let everyone, who could not do it, have one final go. The scoring of such an attempt could be based on actual # of tries or let say attempt #10. Remember that Jakob Schubert got the silver in the World Championship by getting one Top in the qually and zero Tops in the final. If he could have rested like 10 minutes before trying each of the four boulders he did not do, we probably would have seen more action. Among the female in the WCH, nobody could reach the zone on the third and last problem. It should be mentioned that with just three boulders and few tops and zones in the Olympic format, fairness is at risk. Being the best on one boulder but not scoring a zone is simply not fair. The spectators could think that lower-ranked climbers are better than higher ranked.

Patti Wohner sending Heavy Charlie V11 from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Patti Wohner has done her first 8A for four years, Heavy Charlie in Tuolumne Meadows. As can be seen in the great video, it took the 45-year-old over two minutes including endless knee-bars to finish the 10+ meters roof. "I think I am in the best shape of my life right now and still believe I have not reached my potential. I've changed quite a few things about my lifestyle in the past year that has allowed me to increase my training volume. Some examples; I only work part of the year, I quit drinking alcohol and coffee, I eat more nutrient dense food, and spend crazy amounts of time on rehab exercises. I started out the year with a frozen shoulder which led to me becoming more aware of imbalances from climbing 20+ years. Now my training includes a lot of opposition work like deadlifts, pushups, overhead presses. My body is feeling better as I continue with balancing it out. I focus on projects outdoors and am very excited to see what's possible here in Bishop this season! I'm taking a bit of a recovery period then on to more projects. I'd like to be comfortable at the 8A grade so hopefully Bishop's best of the grade! Then we'll see from there. Staying injury-free is always so hard!"