Like always, Janja Garnbret won her qualification group topping all five boulders in six tries. In the second group, Petra Klingler won getting four tops. Among the next ten ranked, eight come from Asia out of which all five representing Japan. Naile Meignan (15) was #7 in her group making it to the semi. Interesting was also that Anouck Jaubert, who was #3 in Speed was #29 and that YiLing Song (18) who has won two Speed events in 2019 was #43. A total of ten female did not get any zone. Complete results

All the big names made it through to the Top-20 semifinal in Wujiang but last weekend winner Manuel Cornu. Jongwon Chon won one group ahead of Adam Ondra both in seven attempts. In the other group, Kai Harada and Meichi Narasaki did all boulders in first try. Jernej Kruder and Gregor Vezonik got the last two spots and that must have been super thrilling especially for Kruder who started first. In the end there were four guys having topped the first four but ended up with just a zone on the last boulder. Last weekend, Manuel Cornu won after having been the last to qualify to the semi and in Moscow, Adam Ondra was #2 after the same situation. One explanation for this is that starting first in the semi means often better conditions and friction as well as longer resting time in between the final. Complete results

Mishka Ishi has repeated Dai Koyamada's 8C Byaku-dou in Horai, after some days 20 projecting it during one year. This means she has set a new world standard for 13 year old's. It is a 25 move roof which has been done once before. Mishka is the second female to have done an 8C after Ashima Shirishi who did Horizon at age 14. She begun climbing being 6 years old and later her mother has started to climb. Previously she has done four 8B's and Nyu-Metsu 8B+ so her ticklist puts her among the very best. No hard routes yet but she is trying an 8b+. "I have no trainer. I think and act by myself. It is so much fun but there is always someone who takes me to the rock and he is Jun Shibanuma. He travels to all parts of the globe and he is a wonderful climber. He talks about the rocks in the world and to tell the truth I had him interpret for me. I am learning English."

1. Adam Ondra CZE - Janja Garnbret SLO 2. Jakob Schubert AUT - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 3. Tomoa Narasaki JPN - Miho Nonaka* JPN 4. Kokoro Fujii* JPN - Jessica Pilz AUT 5. Mickael Mawem FRA - Petra Klingler SUI 6. Jan Hojer GER - YiLing Song CHN** 7. Jernej Kruder SLO - Julia Chanourdie FRA 8. Alex Megos GER - Sol Sa KOR * Only two from each country is allowed to participate. There are several more especially male Japaneses that could be Top-4 if they qualify. ** Most of the best female Speed specialist have also participated in Bouldering. Any of them winning two events have a great chance getting Top-8 in Tokyo.

Vladislav Shevchenko, who did his first 8c+ at age 16, has done his first 9a, Max Factor in Bahchisaraj after four days of projecting. In 2017, he won the European Youth Cup and last year he was #45 in the WCH in Innsbruck. "This year I plan to play in World Cups in Villars, Chamonix, Kranj and World Cups in China. In the autumn I want to go to Spain and try to get through there a few more tracks of category 9a and 9a+."

Miho Nonaka, who has been injured, did her first WC start in the Speed event in Wujiang and set a new personal best at 8.90. The second best non-Speed specialist* was Elena Krasovskaya at 9.10. Most of the big names were around 10 - 12 seconds, including Janja Garnbret at 11.12 probably due to a slip as she did 9.46 last weekend. Among the male, Kokoro Fujii was second fastest among the non-Speed specialist at 6.64 only beaten by Mickael Mawem at 6.57. Third was last weekend's bouldering winner Manuel Cornu at 6.75. Another eight male did go under 7.3 and below so the field is tightening up. Complete results *Only counting the ones frequently in semis in Bouldering and Lead. (c) Eddie Fowke

Daniel Jung, who previously has done three 9a+', has just published some news about his FA of Karamba Karacho 9a Phantasialand on his Insta. It is a link up of an originally 9a and 8c which he both downgraded after the full line was done. (c) Hannes Kutza "Karamba Karacho is a limestone roof on a small local rock. Nearly 50 powerfull moves on pinches crimps and pockets. It was a hard project physically and mentally challenging. I needed a lot of patience, because most of the time the rock was wet. It took me 3 years to finish the first part „Karamba“ in 2011. I would need at least 6 crashpads, they had to be moved 3 times during my rest position. Sometime I only could train on a few moves because most of the holds were wet. I didn't want to break hold in the wet conditions. Some holds were ok to climb on wet conditions. A few weeks after I send „Karamba“ I was lucky to send „Karacho“ as well. „Karacho“ starts where „Karamba“ ends. To send the whole line was a big project for me since then. Sadly the rock was unclimbable wet most times I visited the crack during the last years. After the very dry summer the project became very interesting again last year. The rock was in perfect conditions. That made a big difference. During my sends 2011 the crux holds were humid all the time. With dry holds it felt much easier, so I was back into „Karamba“ very quick. But I had problems on the second part „Karacho“. I wasn't able to reclimb it, it felt too hard. After lots of checking out I found a tricky new beta, with a hook I was able to do a long move and skipped the two worst crux holds. That was key so I finally could send „Karamba Karacho“. The beautiful line that I had in my mind since such a long time. For me it's important to mention that I didn't use a hammer or any tools to „clean/create“ the line. I only cleaned it with a plastic brush. I didn't used any sika. The rock was very sharp, but it's a part of the game, I payed it with a bit of pain and blood. It was worth it: I did a real free climb. It is very sad that I have to mention this, usually I should be the standard. But sadly lots of modern routes, even some of the hardest have artificial holds (drilled pockets, molded sika...). Please remember what free climbing is about: climbing without any artificial help."

The third stage of the Speed WC will take place Friday in Wujiang. The fourth event, out of six, in the Bouldering WC 2019 starts on Saturday with semis and finals live-streamed on Saturday. Interesting is that Miho Nonaka does her first event in 2019 after being injured and that Adam Ondra is back from being sick but again he will not participate in Speed. Shauna Coxsey is missing again at the same time she reports on Insta that she trains hard back home. Friday 03th May: GMT + 8 19.00-20.00 Men & Women Speed Finals [LIVE] Sunday 04th May 09.30-11.45 Men & Women Bouldering Semi-finals [LIVE] 17.00-18.30 Women Bouldering Final [LIVE] 18.30-20.00 Men Bouldering Final [LIVE]

The #1 reason why your rope get twisted is when you are lowered down from an anchor with two fixed points on the same height. The longer the horizontal distance, the worse. When bolting an anchor with only rings, the bolts should not be placed on the same height. The idea for the article has come from a recent UKC article showing the opposite! If you want to tope rope in an anchor with the rings on the same height, you could place just one carabiner in one ring and a long quick draw in the other ring. There is no trick to avoid twisting the rope once you have cleaned the anchor if you not bring a tube and rappel down yourself. Further more, take your time to uncoil your rope coming from the factory a couple times as most of them come heavily twisted causing some 10 min frustration just when you want to start climbing.