Rishat Kaibullin, who set a personal best being #7 in Speed last week, slipped as he went for the buzzer and hit the wall like 30 cm below the electronic device which anyhow recorded 6.075. The Kazakhstan understood he failed so he went up again and hit it like one second later. It was decided that this was a technical incident and five minutes later he run again and set a personal best at 5.863. Then the big pressure was on the Speed World Champion Ludovico Fossali, who executed but was 0.026 slower. It should be mentioned that also during the standard Speed event, Rishat was super lucky as he was #7 at 7.013 just because his opponent, Bassa Mawem the World Cup leader, did fall. At the same time, Fossali was even more lucky becomming the World Champion as in all his four runs, his opponents did either fall or make a false start. The twist of the whole story is that even if Rishat, #34 ranked in the Speed World Cup, is dead last in both Boulder and Lead he will most likely get an Olympic ticket as he luckily won Speed. On the other hand, being #23 as a personal best in a Bouldering WC and #41 last week, he is possibly the most overall talented climber among the best Speed climbers.

1. Tomoa Narasaki 4 - 4 = 16 2. Alex Megos 17 - 1 = 17 (c) Vladek Zumr 2. Rishat Khaibullin 1 - 17 = 17 4. Kai Harada 6 - 3 = 18 5. Mickael Mawem 3 - 8 = 24 6. Jakob Schubert 15 - 2 = 30 7. Kokoro Fujii 5 - 7 = 35 8. Ludovico Fossali 2 - 20 = 40 8. Meichi Narasaki 8 - 5 = 40 10. Mickael Piccolruaz 7 - 13 = 91 11. Jernej Kruder 13 - 9 = 117 12. Adam Ondra 20 - 6 = 120 12. Nathaniel Coleman 10 - 12 = 120 14. Keita Dohi 11 - 11 = 121 15. Jongwon Chon 9 - 16 = 144 16. Jan Jojer 19 - 10 = 190 17. Rudolph Ruana 12 - 18 = 216 18. Yannick Flohe 16 - 14 = 224 19. Stefano Ghisolfi 14 - 19 = 266 20. Sean McColl 18 - 15 = 270 As we would expect the Top-8 cut will be around 400; probably the current Top-7 plus Adam Ondra will move to the final round. As it looks like we will have at least three from Japan Top-8, also #9 will probably make it through to Tokyo. This is a total open affair where also Ghisolfi and McColl is still in the running if any of them win and other results goes their way. If we get four from Japan Top-10, in theory even Fossali could make it although getting dead last also in Lead.

Big drama in the end of the Lead. Adam Ondra needed to be at least #3 to guarantee a place in the Top-8 Combined final. He put on cruise control but suddenly, looking very strong, a foot slipped and he was #3 before last man out Tomoa Narasaki. He also looked very strong but suddenly he fell so Adam was in. Then the commentators said there was a technical bolt-standing incident with Adam who was put down to #18 and 23 as his score. Later on the IFSC page his score was changed into 10 and on the picture you see the incident. Most probably there will be an appeal as you only get marked down if you can have made use of the bolt. Just a touch of the bolt that does not help you is normally ok. So the big question is if Ondra weighted the bolt?

Nobody can for sure know if Adam Ondra made use of the bolt. It just might be that the judges made a wrong call and that Ondra should have been in the final. If Ondra was not called out, Mickael Mawem would not have made it to the Top-8 and Sean McColl would not have qualified to the Olympics. If a similar bolt incident would have happen in Tokyo 2020, there would have been a big scandal as possibly the podium ranking would have to wait like an hour before being official. Climbers stepping on bolts is something happening quite often so it is a problem that has to be taken care of. One possibly solution is just to ask the industry to develop an anti-friction cover that could be squeezed on top of the hanger. Alternatively, the hangers could possibly be made much smaller. If such solution is not possible, the route setters should clearly mark any hangers that the climbers need to pay attention to. Lastly, all hangers that are not in use should be removed from the wall.

1. Janja Garnbret 7 * 2 = 14 (c) Vladek Zumr 2. Shauna Coxsey 14 * 1 = 14 3. Aleksandra Miroslaw 1 * 19 = 19 4. Futaba Ito 4 * 5 = 20 5. Petra Klingler 8 * 3 = 24 6. Miho Nonaka 5 * 6 = 30 7. Anouck Jaubert 2 * 17 = 34 8. Akiyo Noguchi 10 * 4 = 40 9. Di Niu 3 * 19 = 58.5 10. Brooke Raboutou 6 * 10 = 60 11. Julia Chanourdie 9 * 8 = 72 12. Jessica Pilz 11 * 7 = 77 13. Allanah Yip 12 * 11 = 132 14. Lucka Rakovec 15 * 12 = 180 15. Vita Lukan 20 * 9 = 180 16. Nanako Kura 13 * 15 = 195 17. Chaehyon Seo 16 * 13 = 208 18. Mia Krampl 19 * 14 = 266 19. Ai Mori 19 * 14 = 288 20. Ievgeniia Kazbekova 17 * 18 = 306 It is expected that the Top-8 cut will be around 400 meaning it is still an open affair for the current Top-17, even if Janja wins in Lead. At the same time, it is predicted that all the current Top-8 but Anouck will make it as they are all quite good also in Lead. This would mean that Jessica Pilz is the favorite to get the last spot ahead of Chaehyon Seo and Julia Chanourdie. It should be mentioned that it also might be that #9 will get a ticket to the Olympics if three from Japan is ranked Top-8. This should also mean that Mia Krampl could get a ticket if she is at least #2 in Lead.

Aleksandra Miroslaw, the Speed World Champion the last two years, has gotten an Olympic ticket after qualifying as #7 in the Hachioji Combined. This means that she almost certain will become #4 or even #3 in Tokyo 2020. Here is how it goes. 1. It is not likely that another Speed specialist qualify. 2. If so, winning Speed is a walk in the park in Tokyo 3. Her qualification score will be 400 which most likely will be Top-8 4. Her final score will be 64 which most likely will be Top-4 It should be noted that as Africa is guaranteed one spot, she would have great chances to become at least #19 in Bouldering. In Hachioji, the Pole was #57 out of 89 with 1T1z in nine tries each. In practice, what Aleksandra could hope for, as it not likely that she based on her on merits could win over any of the Lead/Boulder specialists, in order to secure and even advance better than#4 are; A. Another Speed specialist qualify B. Bad route setting so more will get no zones in Bouldering C. Janja Garnbret wins both Lead and Boulder D. Many False Starts and Falls (c) Eddie Fowke

Based on the provisional Speed qualifications results, three female Speed specialists are currently Top-20 in Combined. This could however change in the final. In order for them to maintain Top-20 Anouck Jaubert needs to finish at least #5, Aleksandra Miroslaw at least #3 and YiLing Song at least #3. Further more Di Niu, Natalia Kalucka, Andrea Rojas and Aleksandra Kalucka still have the chance to make it if they advance from their qualification results. In theory also Patrycja Chudziak and Anna Brozek could make it being Top-3 in the Speed final. In reality this means that 0 - 6 female Specialists will qualify to the Combined final. The multiplication format used means that it is almost certain that any one qualifying to the Combined final will get an Olympic ticket. It should also be underlined that this is in practice the only chance for a Speed specialists to get an Olympic ticket. Speed qually results YueTong Zhang, Elena Krasovskaya and Fanny Gibert are the ones sitting on the side hoping for some bad results for the Speed specialists mentioned above.