Tomoa Narasaki was superior becoming second in Speed, first in Boulder and second in Lead, getting just points. Jakob Schubert was the only one to Top in the Lead and got 35 points overall. The big sensation was that Rishat Khaibullin got the bronze after having won Speed and put on a great fight skipping two clips which just made him fifth in Lead. (An interview is coming up and actually he deos not consider him as a Speed specialist.) It should also be mentioned that he was super lucky in the two most critical Speed events. First he won against big favorite Bassa Mawem due to a fall and later he benefitted from a technical incident. In the re-run he set a personal best beating the world champion Fossali with 0.03 seconds. Fourth was Kai Harada, putting on a spectacular show in bouldering but at the same time a bit unlucky as he touched two Tops but could not stick it. (c) Vladek Zumr Complete results 1. Tomoa Narasaki 2. Jakob Schubert 3. Rishat Khaibullin 4. Kai Harada 5. Meichi Narasaki 6. Kokoro Fujii 7. Mickael Mawem 8. Alex Megos (injured)

One of the biggest sensations in Hachioji was actually how much progress in Speed the Boulder/Lead specialists had made. Tomoa Narasaki set a new personal best with 6.15 which had put him #19 in Hachioji and actually #15 in Chamonix. Based on all the personal best, it might be that most of participated will go below seven seconds and Tomoa below six. It should further more be mentioned that Rishat Khaibullin does not consider himself as a Speed specialist only training that discipline once a week and thus having a personal best of 5.83. As Ondra’s personal best is 7.87, it might be most productive for him to actually skip Speed training if it turns out he can not get close to seven seconds pretty soon. Another twist is that some years ago, we asked some of the best Speed climbers how fast they thought the non-specialists could run. In retro-perspective they were dead wrong and all the assumptions that Speed will be almost emberrasing to watch, as 8a also said, was dead wrong. It just might be that Narasaki could get well under six seconds in Tokyo and win all three disciplines.

The extreme domination of Japan getting seven out of the nine medals, excluding Speed, and having 50 % of the Combined finalists make you think how it would look like if they would have been allowed to participate with ten athletes like in the male Boulder WC? Japan male is on the way to dominate the sport like how the whole continent of Africa is dominating middle distance running. If this trend continue, IFSC and the whole competition scene is a big risk actually. "Luckily" there is a max national team quota of two in the Olympics 2020. Without any quota, also in the World Cup, possibly 50 % of all participants would have been from Japan. On the other hand, Janja Garnbret getting three golds in Hachioji, is as superior as ever also when it comes to crown the best female competition climber ever. As a team, Slovenia was, beside Japan, superior with four Top-17 in the Combined. From one perspective, their results is actually more impressive as they have just 2 millions inhabitants compared to Japan with 128 millions. Remember that Slovenia beside the Lead silver by Mia Krampl had another four Top-12. In Bouldering they had four Top-21. The country with possibly the worst, relatively speaking, poor result was France. Their best result in the four Lead and Boulder categories were; 25 - 8 - 16 - 9 and it continues in the Combination; 7 - 12. In other words, measuring only these comps by the World Cup points standard, France result was a total fiasco considering they sent of of the largest teams. It should also be mentioned that also Italy and Spain got a very poor result. The epicentrum of competition climbing is moving towards Asia.

Pete Whittaker has done the second repeat of Nicolas Favresse's Recovery drink 8c+ in Jössingfjord, Norway after some 25 sessions. He started working on the big overhanging crack in 2015 and did it on his fourth trip. "I think it's generally considered to be 8c+, which seems to sit in line with all the other 5.14 trad routes I've done." Full story on Pete's Facebook. "Miraculously I found myself mid crux with some power in the tank. Not much, but some, and albeit feeling the sag, some is always enough for something extra to happen. Left heal went on for the match and it didn’t come off, which was a surprise, because I was milking it much more than the hold really allowed. I realised I better carry on, so shut my eyes to try harder and fondled for the jam doughnut. I then realised I couldn’t see a bloody thing, so opened them again, found I was still connected to the wall, flipped my hand the ‘correct way’ and unbelievably found myself established beyond the crux. Blimey!" What is next? I have the launch of my book 'Crack Climbing' this winter, so very focused on that. I also heard 'Silence' has a foot jam on it, so I might go and see if I can hang the move.

Big drama with the Ondra bolt incident in the end that including the multiplication format, as well as four Japanese into the final, just made it almost too much. Further more the commentators keep saying that Japan will select two to Tokyo which they can not know. In the end, it was Sean McColl who had a very poor round in both Speed and Boulder, who was the biggest lucky winner of an Olympic ticket. Sean started of with a Z-clip but kept on fighting and looked not so pleased falling being #3. Then every result of the remaining climbers did go exactly as they should. (c) Vladek Zumr Very lucky indeed was indeed also Ludovico Fossali, who although being dead last in both Lead and Boulder he got himself a ticket to Tokyo. 1. Alex Megos 17 - 1 - 1 = 17 2. Jakob Schubert 15 - 2 - 2 = 60 3. Tomoa Narasaki 4 - 4 - 7 = 112 4. Kokoro Fujii 5 - 7 - 5 = 175 5. Kai Harada 6 - 3 -13 = 234 6. Rishar Khaibullin 1 - 17 - 16 = 272 7. Meichi Narasaki 8 - 5 - 10 = 400 8. Mickael Mawem 83 - 8 - 18 = 432 Also getting an Olympic ticket 9. Ludovico Fossali 2 - 20 - 20 = 800 10. Sean McColl 18 - 15 - 3 = 810 Complete results

The commentators are doing a very great job describing the climbing and doing interviews etc. They are just improving and it is nice to see that they are so familiar with the athletes. What makes their job super hard is the lack of a digital scoreboard, especially with the multiplication format in Combined. The number of times they mislead the viewers are just endless, talking about what is needed to make the final etc. The Top-8 selection out of 20 will be around 400 points. This means that any winner of any discipline are almost certain to advance to the Top-8. Using this estimation it is quite easy to share speculations what is needed etc. When it comes to getting a bronze in the Top-8 final, we are talking like 24 - 64 points. This means that 1 * 8 * 8 most likely would make you fourth. The commentators should also talk to IFSC officials explaining rules and the format procedure so they do not continue to mislead the viewers.

During the Combined Speed Final there are 12 races out of which the battle of the #7 position has the least impact, i.e. a factor 1.14 difference in your overall score. This can be compared to the final battle in between #1 position where the difference is 2. During the first round where you are decided to become 1 - 4 or 5 - 8 the average result is 2.5 verses 6.5, i.e. 2.6 factor difference. One example of this is the race in between Futaba Ito, #2 in the qualification and Shauna Coxey #7. Futaba was ahead until she slipped and Coxsey was the lucky winner. In all other rounds, Futaba was much quicker compared to Coxsey, however Futaba ended #5 and Shauna #2, i.e. 2.5 difference in the multiplication format. It is kind of strange that when the Ai Mori and Akiyo Noguchi were about the battle of the #7 position, the commentators marketed it to have "massive impact of the rankings" at the same time this superlative was not used for any other of the 12 races. The commentators said that if you made a false start in any of the rounds but the last run, you would end up as #8. This should not be true but if it is, the rule must be changed.

The big sensation in the Speed was that Shauna Coxsey was second and being third in Boulder she is currently #1. "Incredible unexpected" was Shauna's first word in IFSC mini-interview. 1. Shauna Coxsey 2 - 3 = 6 2. Akiyo Noguchi 7 - 1 = 7 3. Aleksandra Miroslaw 1 - 8 = 8 4. Janja Garnbret 6 - 2 = 12 5. Miho Nonaka 4 - 4 = 16 6. Petra Klingler 3- 7 = 21 7. Futaba Ito 5 - 6 = 30 8. Ai Mori 8 - 5 = 40 Unfortunately, the route setters made a big mistake again and on the third and last boulder nobody were not super close to secure the zone. As a matter of a fact, most did actually struggle to move of the ground and only few times we saw the first big mantle move being done. In total, there were almost 45 minutes with just minimal action including also the Speed specialist trying to do the first move on boulder 2. It should be mentioned that the two first boulders were perfect with plenty of action separating all climbers. As it stands, if we assume that Janja will win Lead, she will win at 12 points. In theory, all the others can get on the podium excluding Aleksandra who realistically needs some miracle like disqualification etc.

Janja Garnbret is the Hachioji Combined World Champion after topping out the Lead route faster than Ai Mori. Also Akiyo Noguchi touched the top but could not hold it meaning she lost the title as she had climbed faster than Janja. Third was Shauna Coxsey who has become also one of the best route climbers in the world. Repeating Adam Ondra's mistake standing on a bolt, Coxsey dropped from fourth to seventh in Lead which in practice did not change her overall score. Fourth was Speed specialist Aleksandra Miroslaw who understandably was dead last in both Boulder and Lead. It should be mentioned that it is most likely that also during the Olympics, she or another Speed specialist will be fourth although being dead last in both Boulder and Speed. (c) Vladek Zumr 1. Janja Garnbret 6 - 2 - 1 = 12 2. Akiyo Noguchi 7 - 1 - 3 = 21 3. Shauna Coxsey 2 - 3 - 7 = 42 4. Aleksandra Miroslaw 1 - 8 - 8 = 64 5. Miho Nonaka 4 - 4 - 5 = 80 6. Ai Mori 8 - 5 - 2 = 80 7. Futaba Ito 5 - 6 - 4 = 120 8. Petra Klingler 3 - 7 - 6 = 126 Complete results