NEWS

1. Chaehyon Seo (15) KOR 480 - Adam Ondra CZE 300 2. Janja Garnbret SLO 352 - Alberto Gines Lopes ESP 256 3. Natsuki Tanii JPN 243 - Sean McColl CAN 206 4. Lucka Rakovec SLO 226 - Kai Harada JPN 195 5. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 224 - Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 190 6. Ai Mori JPN 220 - Hiroto Shimuzi JPN 180 7. YueTong Zhang CHI 207 - Kokoro Fujii JPN 165 8. Jain Kim KOR 206 - Alexander Megos GER 165 15-year-old, Chaehyon Seo is the big sensational winner of the Women Lead WC in 2019. Her stats is just amazing 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 3, making her one of the most superior winners ever. Janja Garnbret was runner up but her stats was her worst in Lead since she started in the Lead WC, being 15-years-old. Noteworthy is also three female from Japan in the Top-6. Among the male, Adam Ondra got one more overall title although just participating in three events, which he all won. As a matter of a fact, most of the best did just participate in 3 - 5 events. The big male sensation in 2016, is Alberto Gines Lopez who just got better during the season, having competed in 28 IFSC events including being #3 in the Youth World Championship. Japan got three in the Top-7 and got their best season ever.

La Rubia 8c+ by Andrea Cartas (37)
Andrea Cartas has done her second 8c+, at age 37, by doing La Rubia in Villanueva del Rosario. (c) Javi Pec How was the process taking it down? It was a long process; two springs and this autumn one month. The problem has been that I live 500km from the crag and I have to work and make short trips to try it. So finally in one month I really gave a few good tries. That was hard for the mind. I was really close past May but the heat came. Now, the first day of good conditions, the send happens! What was the key to send it? The perfect day, well-rested and free on my mind not about having to send, just I wanted a lot to climbing in good conditions. What is next? Just enjoy other cool lines at the crag, travel and climbing on sight and maybe try harder soon ;-)

Chykungunya 8c (+) by Max Bertone (12)
Max Bertone, little brother to Oriane, has done Chykungunya in Ouaki giving it a personal 8c grade, Video. The last week the 12-year-old has also done two 8A's. "I agree with Oriane. Harder than Pari and for sure the hardest route I have done. Maybe I have the advantage to be short and to have little hands. This explain the fact that I felt it harder than 8b+... but not enough to be 8c+, as suggested in the topo."

With many of the best missing, especially among the males, Japan got five males and four females in the Top-8 in the qualification. The only one topping out both male routes was Fedir Samoilov. In the women category, we saw five double tops. Complete results

25 October 2019

Virgo 8C by James Webb

James Webb, who previoulsy has done three 8C+', has done his 27th 8C, Virgo which is a FA in Tahoe. "Lost in Space proj. Really sick pitbul that packs a punch. Unsure on the grade. Could be easier? Finger is on the mend! What he means by that is explained in his Insta. "After leaving Rocklands with a finger injury Iโ€™ve been struggling to heal up and stay strong. Recently though I found an amazing project here in Tahoe that was ultra comfy for the left hand." In the 8a ranking game, Jimmy is #1.

Cathy Wagner has added two 8a's and a very impressive 2nd go ascent of Guernica 8a+ in Rodellar to her scorecard. In total the 54-year-old has now done 736 routes 8a and harder out of which one third 2nd go.

The Party is here 9a FA by Gabri Moroni
Gabri Moroni, reports on his Insta that he has made the FA of The Party is Here. (c) Paolo Sortiri "Then, after 8 days of work, when nothing seems to work anymore, on my 4th try of the day and pretty bad conditions, I fought my way up, managed to stick the move I fell countless times and kept it together! Another great moment I will hardly forget..."

By looking at the starting list for Inzai this weekend, we can see that actually many of the best Europeans have chosen to not take part. There are currently 11 Europeans in the Top-20 ranking and as a matter of a fact only four of them will participate. Checking the same Top-20 list, we can see that only four athletes will have taken part in all six events. This means when it comes to the Combined ranking, many not so strong climbers have a golden oppurtunity to get a very good result that could put them high on the overall Lead as well as the Combined ranking. It should be mentioned that in regards the women, it is much better. Most of the best will participate in Xiamen.

25 October 2019

Inzai semi