NEWS

9a FA by Diego Fourbet (16)
Diego Fourbet has done the FA of a 9a extension to La Proue Debridee 8c+ in Roche de Rame which he did last year. Diego started climbing being three years old and since age six, he has been training with a club. More info on his Insta. The 16 year old is the son of the famous French climbing couple, Nathalie (ex-Richer) and Olivier Fourbet. "Antony Lamiche bolted the project six years ago. I spend six session on the route but the first part of the route is the same that a route I did last year. I have always traveled in Europe with my parents where I climb and boulder in different areas. Since I am 14 I study in a special class to climb more (CIE DE BRIANCONS).

Drift 8C by Martin Strรกnรญk
Martin Strรกnรญk, #2 in the WCH in 2007, has done his seventh 8C, Drift in Moravskรฝ kras. Kateล™ina Strรกnรญk "So, that went quite fast, 2 days. Great addition by Adam, maybe just 8B+, but i spent quite a lot of time on this type of rock what makes moves easier."

France dominated in the first European Bouldering Youth Cup in 2019 which took place in Souvre in Portugal. In total they got three golds and nine medals. The most superior winner was Oriane Bertone who did all all eight problems in the qualification on her first try. Germany got two golds and Austria one. Interesting is that these three countries won 16 out of the 18 medals. 04: Oriane Bertone FRA - Perry Bloem GER 02: Lucy Douady FRA - Lasse von Freier GER 00: Mattea Pรถtzi AUT - Pierre Le Cerf FRA Complete results

Many up-side-down results in the male semi
Anze Peharc won the semifinal ahead of Tomoa Narasaki and Kokoro Fujii, the only ones to make two boulders. Half of the field did not do one including Jakob Schubert #18 and Jongwon Chon #15 who were the Top-2 in their qualification group. Tomoa and Kokoro were also Top-3 in their respectively group as Aleksy Rubtsov who was #6 in the semi. Interesting is that Manuel Cornu and Sasha Lehman were #4 and #5 in the semi coming from being ranked #19 and #15 in the qualification. Anze Peharc was #11 in the semi so there were several up-side-down results from the qualifications, where 16 topped all five boulders. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

It was an almost perfect match in between the qualification and the semi for the female. Janja Garnbret and Katja Kadic, who won their qualification groups, were #1 and #2 also in the semi, being the only ones topping all four problems. They were followed by Akiyo Noguchi and Jessica Pilz who were #3 and #5 in the qualifications. The last two spots into the final took Petra Klingler and Futaba Ito, who were #3 and #9 in the qualification. Interesting is that nine female did not do any boulder in the semifinal so it seems there is a rather big gap in between the Top-20 best female boulderers in the world. Complete results

Last year, Anze Peharc was #16 as his best result out of six World Cups. In the last event, the WCH in Innsbruck he was #55. This year he has been 15 - 4 - 3 and overall he is #4 in the World Cup. The big breakthrough last year was made by Gregor Vezonik and interestingly, both are from Slovenia. Among the female, we have not seen any such sensational results overall but Lucka Rakovec's 16 - 4 - 12, sticks out. She is just 17 and also from Slovenia. The one struggling the most is Jakob Schubert. He is one of the best Lead competition climbers in the history and he was #3 in the last Bouldering comp in 2018. His average results in the first three Boulder WCs in 2019 are 31 after having been; 47 - 27 - 18. Also Sean McColl, who has won 13 medals in Bouldering WC's including one silver last year, has had a relatively bad start, 24 - 33 - 14.

Garnbret and Kadic from Slovenia win qually
Slovenia did dominate the female qualification in Chongqing where Janja Garnbret and Katja Kadic won their respectively group. The two million country also had Lucka Rakovec as #3 and Vita Lukan as #11. Interesting is that the Speed specialists Anna Tsyganova and Anouck Jaubert set personal best being #31 and #39. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke - Jain Kim #7.

Kruder is out in Chongqing
Adam Ondra did cancel his trip due to being sick and Jernej Kruder, who won in Moscow, was #34 in Chongqing. For some reason the Slovenian failed to even get a zone on the first boulder which some 60 % topped in his group. Later Kruder did the remaining four boulders in just seven tries. (c) Eddie Fowke Winners of the two groups were Tomoa Narasaki and Jakob Schubert needeing only six respective seven tries for the five boulders. In total, six from Japan into the Top-20 semifinal and once again all ten male from Japan among Top-31. Complete results

Seb Bouin has done another 9a, Super Finale in Rawyl in just four tries. It total, he has now done some 35 routes 9a to 9b. "It was the most extreme conditions of the year. First day we only climbed one route, it was cold, super windy, and waterfall from the crag was falling on the belayer... Second day we were stronger in the head, and it worked"

Dolorock Climbing Festival 2019
Itโ€™s Dolorock time! From May 24 to 26 the seventh edition of the Dolorock Climbing Festival will take place all around the Three Peaks. For three days, there will be climbing, celebrations and discussions at the cross-language and cross-border event. Over time, Dolorock has become one of the largest sports climbing events in Europe. Join and be part of it! Program: Friday, 24/5 at 9pm: drive-in cinema at the Dobbiaco indoor climbing centre. Saturday, 25/5 from 10am to 5pm: Dolorock Red Point Fight at the climbing crags in Val di Landro. 7:30pm: award ceremony with many non-cash prizes. Afterwards party, dance (Pink Armada), food and drinks. Free camping. Sunday, 26/5: climbersโ€™ brunch and Yoga for climbers.