Zander Waller, #7 in both Lead and Bouldering in the last YWCH, has done his first 8B, Booka Booka Booka in Moe's Valley. ”Super happy to have sent Booka in one session, I think it may be soft but I'm not sure; I haven't really tried any other v13s. The big move was hard for me but on the send everything lined up perfectly and I managed to stick it. I think I need to start trying more hard boulders soon. I'm focused on comps after the end of my trip, next stop is tuck fest DWS, then the Come and Send It Fest, and Youth Sport Nationals. After that I will be training for youth world's in Arco.”

Giuseppe Nolasco has done his first 9a, Ground Zero in Tetto di Sarre after projecting it for 19 weekends since 2011. The last winter he trained very hard for it. (c) Gianluca Bosonin "I tried Ground Zero for the first time in 2011, I directly had good vibes and actually after a few weekends I fell off the last hold when I couldn't clip the chain. For years I didn't try it again, just one short session in 2017 and a more attempt in 2018. After a great winter training, finally on 7 April I sent my first 9a, first ascended by Alberto Gnerro."

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!"

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

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!"

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

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

"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.