NEWS

Adam Ondra was last out and in his normal fast style he executed and once he passed Alex Megos high point he got all the 12 000 spectators behind him. Then he waved for more support and continued towards the top falling but as he said afterwards, there were too small as the route setters possibly wanted to avoid tops as in Villars last week. Ondra will skip Briancon and instead train for the WCH i Tokyo in August. Complete results

Double tops by Ondra, Garnbret and Seo in Chamonix
Adam Ondra, who skipped the WC in Villars last week due to a wrist injury, was the only male who topped both routes. Surprisingly, Tomoa Narasaki, who won the semi last week and then was #6 in the final, was #28 and failed to make it to the semi. Anyhow, Japan got five into the semi. Among the female, 15 year old Chaeyon, who was #2 in Villars, was together with Janja Garnbret the one one making double. Slovenia got four to the semi. Interesting, Janja come with a strong statement in regards the poor route setting last week on Insta; "Anyway, I have to say that Iโ€™m disappointed about the routesetting in the finals. This is not what we have been training for. Where are hard lead routes where you have to fight hard against the pump and not just climbing routes for the show?" Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

Big anticlimax again in the Speed final. First both female in the small final fell so they had to do have a re-run. Later Elizaveta Ivanova made a false start so YiLing Song could drop of after three meters and start celebrating. Among the male, we saw false starts in two out of the four quarter finals and one big slip. Then in the small final there was a fall and in the final QiXina Zhong had a slip and Alifan Muhammad won. Complete results To sum up, there is sometimes just to little excitement in the Speed final. What is we have a false start in the Speed final in Tokyo. The only solution for this would be to have at least four competitors at the same time and further more, the routes should be much closer together. Imagine how strange it would look if we only had two competitors in the 100 meters final.

Extensive chopping and sabotage in Ten Sleep
In February, R & I published and open letter saying The chipping in Ten Sleep needs to stop. As a matter of a fact, the extensive chipping carried out by Louie Anderson and others, had stopped almost one year before the open letter was published. Louie has also said it was wrong to chip and he regretted to do so. Now Louie has reported on Facebook. "On the nights of July 1st and 2nd, a group of climbers from Wyoming and elsewhere decided to remove some of my routes. Dozens of routes have been affected and have either removed bolts, filled in pockets, smashed holds, or some combination of all of these. There are also several routes that have spray painted red padlocks attached to the first bolts to act as a notice to climbers that they may be getting on a route that potentially has modified holds." Here is a Statement on behalf of the guys who chopped bolts, filled in pockets and put a red locker on some of the first bolts. It should be mentioned that 8a think chipping is totally wrong and as a matter of a fact in the scorecard you can mark routes as "chipped" in order to warn others. Further more, we hope this will make future equippers stop chipping in order to officially have opened a chipped route. A further step would be for topo producers to actually mark chipped routes in their guide books. Personally I have hard time understanding why R & I published this letter in the first place asking for chipping to stop as it had already been stopped one year ago. Further more, I think it is wrong that sabotage existing routes like this. There exist thousands and thousands chipped routes in the world also up to 9a grade etc. If this chopping practice would spread it would be very bad for the climbing community.

Ray of Light 8B by Alizรฉe Dufraisse
Alizรฉe Dufraisse has done Ray of Light which is her third 8B in Rocklands the last twelve months. More info to come. Allizรฉe won the Youth World Champion in 2003. In 2004 she started pole vaulting and in 2008 she was the French Champion at 4.35 but missed the Olympic games. Then back to climbing comps again where she was #3 in a Lead WC in 2009 when she won in Bouldering in Arco Rock Master. Including two 9a's etc, she is #2 in the 8a All Time ranking game, meaning she should be considered Top-10 of all female sport climbers in the history.

Slow Speed qually in Chamonix
For some reason, most athletes in the Speed qualifications climbed slower than in Villars last week. Fastest among the high ranked female Lead and Boulder specialists was Futaba Ito at 9.39. Among the male, Tomoa Narasaki was fastest among the best high ranked Combined climbers at 6.51. Interesting is Adam Ondra's 8.01 which can be compared with his 9.32 in his first ever Speed event during WCH in Innsbruck last year. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

La grande vadrouille 9a FA by Loic Zehani (17)
Loic Zehani has done his seventh 9a FA, La grande vadrouille in Gargantua. "In total there are 90 movements in roof and big overhang. The finish is hard and more crimpy in overhang too. The first part is a 8b+ in a roof very physical and stamina (45 movements) after that you have a hard section with shoulder boulder moves. Here you have done an 8c+. After a physical rest you have a last hard section with crimps in the end of the overhang. It's hard to not fall after all the energy you left beforeโ€ฆ It's in fact the connection between 3 routes; Dรฉgenรฉrรฉscence / Uncle spit/ Gargantuesque, but it's very logical and cool line."

Chamonix Speed & Lead 11-13/7
Thursday: Speed qualification Friday: Lead qualification and Speed Finals 21.00 Saturday: 10.00-12.30 Men & Women Lead Semi-finals [LIVE] 20.50-21.30 Women Lead Final [LIVE] 21.50-22.35 Men Lead Final [LIVE]

The Duoholds rule forgotten in Villars
Herman Engbers, a former IFSC judge, confirms that there was a mistake of the scoring for Natsuki Tanii in Villars. Engbers suggested a "Duohold" solutions for situations like when two holds can be considered equal along the line of the route. Since 2010 the Duoholds rule is included in the IFSC rule.