Babsi Zangerl reports on Insta that she has done Pre-Muir wall which is a 30 pitch 8b in Yosemite. (c) Jacopo Larcher Babsi has previously done three other big multi-pitches in Yosemite and many others all over. In this discipline she is superior among the female and also one of the very best among the male. Including also 9a in Sport and 8B in bouldering, the Austrian is the best female rock climber in the world.

IOC has unanimously voted to approve the approval to include Sport Climbing in Paris 2024. The proposal was to have have two set of medals, Speed Climbing with 16 athletes per gender respectively Lead and Boulder with 20 athletes per gender in a new Combined discipline. The final decision will be taken in December 2020. Read more

When it comes to big walls and multi-pitches, Babsi Zangerl is totally superior among the female. In 2017, she made the first repeat of Tommy Caldwell's Magic Mushroom, a 30 pitch 8b+, together with her boyfriend Jacopo Larcher. The 30 year old Austrian has also done the first female ascent of the 900+ metres El Nino 8a+, Zodiac 8b and Pre-Muir 8b. It should be noted that grade wise these efforts should, in comparison to bolted one pitch sport routes (in spain), probably warrant at least two grades more. Lat year 2018 she did the FFA of Odyssee on the Eiger North Face, 33 pitches up to 8a+ (hardest free climb on the Eiger). She has also done the FFA of the Alpine trilogy; Kaisers neue Kleider 8b+, Silbergeier 8b and End of Silence 8b+. Adding another dozen big multi-pitches 8a and harder mainly in the Alps, she just might have the Top-5 most impressive ticklist out there, also counting the male. If so, Babsi might be the very best female athlete out there in the world, counting all sports, in comparison to the male? It should be mentioned that most of her hardest big wall/multi-pitches ascents, she has done together with Jacopo Larcher who is also among the best in the world in this discipline. Surely, he is also part of the success story of making Babsi an unique female in the world. (c) Heinz Zak

Chiara Hanke, who previously has done five 8c’s has become the first women to do a 9a in Frankenjura via, Sever the Wicked Hand, in just six or seven sessions. More info and pics on her Insta. (c) Hans Radetzki ”I started climbing at the age of 13 after a shoulder surgery. Before that I was passionate about wakeboarding. Actually I just wanted to get fit for wakeboarding again quickly. A climbing hall had opened around the corner from me at the time. That was so much fun for me that I stayed with it. Then everything went very fast: competitions, member of the national team, more competitions. I didn‘t get to really climb outside until the end of 2017, when I started climbing again after a knee injury lasting almost 3 months. That was a lot of fun for me and motivation! In 2018 I only climbed outside besides training. Wallstreet was certainly a highlight of it. For me it was and still is important to climb many routes and climbb in general. I really don't like to try routes to often. Then I have the feeling not to climb any more and I miss just doing moves."

Jorge Diaz-Rullo has done his fourth 9a the last three weeks, Leira in Cuenca. Adding also four 8c+ and one 9b in the same period, it is easy to say that the 19 year old is in the best shape in his life. In the 8a ranking game, the Spaniard is #4.

Bernd Zangerl famous for being one of the pioneers of Magic Wood and many other areas around the globe explores more in Val di Orco including the Il Colonel sds.

Bill Ramsey (59), a professor in philosphy, has done Jumbo Pumping Hate 8b+ in Clark Mountain put up by Randy Leavitt. (c) Max Fox "I like what Randy Leavitt said: "Don't let your mind get old because your body will follow." While your various strengths and capacities diminish with age, your ability to try hard doesn't. Rest more and warm-up more, but when it's game time, try really hard." How many sessions did it take and did you do any specific training? I’m not sure how many sessions, but I worked on it for about three seasons. I tried recreating the crux dyno in my garage to train on, and that probably helped. I also made a point of training while projecting to avoid project-atrophy. Sometimes that would involve taking a few days off to train, sometimes it would involve training before or after a day at the cliff. How is your approach towards doing hard routes now compared to 10, 20 and 30 years ago? It’s the same, only I probably put less pressure on myself now. I want to send, but just having a good day up there with friends, where I feel good about my effort is also gratifying. What is it mentally, taking about motivation, that keeps you pushing so hard? I think the hype about always being positive is mostly BS. It’s better to be a realistic optimist – being honest and realistic about your chances, about what needs improving, but trying hard when you have a shot. Some days are going to really suck and you just need to take those in stride. You also need mini-goals (high-points, or low-points, linkage goals) and strategic objectives every day. And no matter how well you think you know a route, there is always more to learn. Even if a slight tweak in beta that only saves .5% of energy, if you find 4 of those you are climbing 2% stronger, which can be huge.

Here is a list of 27 male who have the best chances of making it to Toulouse, including the seven qualifying directly to the Olympics in Tokyo WCH. JPN 7: Tomoa Narasaki, Yoshiyuki Ogata, Kokoro Fujii, Kai Harada, Rei Sugimoto, Meichi Narasaki, Keita Dohi Global: 20 SLO: Jernej Kruder & Anze Peharc, FRA: Manuel Cornu, GER: Jan Hojer, Alex Megos and Yannick Flohe, ITA: Stefano Ghisolfi & Marcello Bombardi, RUS: Nikolai Iarilovets, USA: Nathaniel Coleman, Sean Bailay, AUT: Jakob Schubert KOR: Jongwon Chon CAN: Sean McColl, CZE: Adam Ondra, GBR: William Bosi, BEL: Nicolas Collin, CHI: Yufei Pan, NED: Tim Reuser, RUS: Aleksey Rubtsov, 10 Challengers: INA: Alfian Muhammad, ITA: Mickel Piccolruaz, ECU: Carlos Granja, SWE: Hannes Puman, BEL: Simon Lorenzi & Loic Timmermans, USA: Rudolph Ruana, CZE: Jakub Konecny, SLO: Domen Skofic, FRA: Romain Desgranges Not participating in Villars in both Lead and Speed but still have the chance: GBR: William Ridal, FRA: Bassa Mawem & Mikael Mawem, UKR: Sergii Topishko & Fedir Samoilov, ISR: Alex Khazanov

Ben Burkhalter, who did his first 8A+ in 2017 after just having climbed for three years, has done his first 8B+, Jade in RMNP. (c) Sam Weir "Wow! Did “the move” 3rd try.. should have finished it my 1st session, but due to a total fluke I split my left pointer finger on the start hold while giving it bottom goes. Went back up 4 days later on the last day of my trip with 2 fingers still split and real humid weather. I super glued my skin and somehow managed it! So psyched and I’m truly honored to send this finger strength testpiece at age 17! Total Hail Mary on the last day!"