Article from Munich World Cup in 2017 Talking to many of the Japanese coaches and athletes in regards to their extreme recipe for success, it is about problem solving in a challenging interactive mode. There is no Japanese secret, they just go to the gym five times a week and basically just have fun doing and interacting on spectacular boulders, and stretch every day. The focus from their coaches is technique. Strengh weaknesses are solved by doing specific boulders rather than hanging on a campus board etc. In Munich there were five coaches filming and writing comments on their athlete feedback paper. The culture is about learning new things and interacting in order to optimize their performance. After the comp they talk to the route setters and then they all show up trying to solve the problems again, again and again. At the same time the after party starts, the Japanese have their after climb on the stage in their sneakers. Once their competitors are drinking beers, tape is put on trying to stop the blood in order to squeeze in some more crazy double or triple dynos. "Gamba!"

Looking at the first climb of each grade list, Jim Holloway's Trice in Flagstaff from 1975 sticks out being the most ahead of it's time as it is considered 8A+ today. Totally amazingly, it took 32 years before it got it's first repeat by Carlo Traversi in 2007. Now it is one of the most repeated in the 8a data base with 32 ascents! Jim, born in 1954, started climbing at age sixteen. The 193 cm was one of the first boulderers to devote more than a few hours to creating a particular problem. In 1975 he put up Meathook in Horsetooth Reservoir as the world's first 8A, after some 20 days projecting. He was so serious with his training so he used some wooden rungs at home like a mini campus board. Later the same year he ade the FA of Trice 8A. (c) Pat Ament, who sends his portrait. "Calm, clear, caring, and unselfish, the thin, six-foot-six Jim Holloway climbed for his own pleasure and not to make himself look tall through making small the virtues of others. One spiteful remark heard back then in Holloway days on Flagstaff Mountain was that he eliminated all the difficulty with his tremendous reach. In fact, he and his graceful form were out of reach. He climbed for the right reasons, to experience the creativity, to be with friends, or to be alone, to know the solitude and beauty."

Japan had seven male in the semifinal and all in Top-10, together with #1 Adam Ondra, #5 Jongwon Chon and #7 Aleksey Rubtsov and Jongwon Chon. (c) Eddie Fowke Updated live results

Excellent route setting also for the female where Janja Garnbret had a bad start on the first boulder where she got a cut and bleeding a lot. Then in normal but amazing Janja style she finished the rest in six attempts. Runner up was Akiyo Noguchi who needed three more tries. Shauna Coxey, back from some injuries, was third and as a matter of a fact, she was tied with Janja after the first three boulders. Sixth was 16 year old, Oceania Mackenzie from Australia who just did her second World Cup. Interestingly, last year she did 9.69 in Speed and in all her three Lead WC, she made semi. In other words, her is a new name with a great possibility for making it to Tokyo. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Janja Garnbret 34 (6) 2. Akiyo Noguchi 34 (9) 3. Shauna Coxsey 23 4. Fanny Gibert 12 5. Petra Klingler 11 6. Oceanina Mackenzie 10 Complete results

Mathieu Pauwels has done his second 9a, Era Vella in Margalef after some five weeks of projecting. (c) Julien VDV "The first time I tried it was in company of my idol Muriel Sarkany. At first, Era Vella was not a goal for me. I just tried it and I realized that I had some facilities in the movements. The only problem for me, the 45/50 meters to climb but in all sincerity it was not my first objective. I had just done my first 9a (Punt'X) and I was looking for a new project. I am finally free and happy to add this pearl to my notebook cross. A big thank you to all the people who followed me in this project!"

"If you have not been to Kyparissi yet, this is your chance: the extraordinary cliffs, exemplary hospitality, and intimate beauty of this little gem of a village in the southeast Peloponnese are ready to be experienced—or re-experienced—during its 2nd climbing festival over the weekend of May 10-12th, 2019. Even though Kyparissi is surrounded by beautiful cliffs, it didn’t break into the climbing scene until fairly recently. Some routes had been bolted previously at sector Watermill, but methodical equipping of well-bolted routes and crags started in 2015, thanks to the Climb Kyparissi project under the supervision of our own Aris Theodoropoulos." More info and a inspirational video.

After the final, the IFSC results did show that 16 year old Oceanina Mackenzie was #4. Then the french team made a protest saying she did an incorrect start at problem three, which was approved, meaning she lost her zone and dropped to #6. If Oceanina would have stopped trying after she got her zone, she would have been given at least one more try after the competition. One problem with such late calls is that in theory, a person like Oceanina could have topped the boulder and possibly advanced to the podium. Judges make mistake and if such situation will happen in Tokyo in could mean an anticlimax. Would if saying that any protest must be handed in within five minutes and then automatically an aster-ix (*) would be shown next to the result. It is super strange for everyone involved that the current ranking is changed after the medal ceremony and after the live-streaming is stopped.

The last boulder had a jamming section that none of the first five finalist could do what so ever. Adam Ondra, starting last as he won the semifinal, had to do the jam and get a zone to secure the win. He squeezes in his left hand and it get stuck so well so he drops the right hand and waves to the crowd celebrating him. One more jam and he continues with ease and create the perfect ending as well as start of the Boulder World Cup. The coming week, the Japanese and the rest of the gang will have to do some old school jamming training. (c) Eddie Fowke 1. Adam Ondra 44 (4T4z) 2. Tomoa Narasaki 33 3. Rei Sugimoto 23 4. Kokoro Fujii 13 (3,5 attempts) 5. Jongwon Chon 13 (3,8) 6. Tomoaki Takata 11 Complete results

Jakob Schubert ended #43 and did not make it to the Top-20 semi-final. Japan participated with ten guys and their worst results was #30 and in total, seven guys made it to the semifinal. World Champion Kai Harada was #21. Nathaniel Coleman from USA and Nathan Philips GBR won the two groups. Other than that Adam Ondra and Tomoa Narasaki were runner-ups in their groups and Slovenia had three guys Top-13. The semifinal starts on Saturday 11.00 followed by the finals at 19.00. Complete results