Last year there were 208 participants in Meiringen and this year there are 222 in the Starting List. Each country are allowed to participate with five male and five female plus the Top-10 in the world ranking, which means Japan will participate with ten males. In the qualification, it is the highest ranked who start first. Among the ones, who did not get Top-30 in any World Cup or WCH, the starting order is done by random. In practice, this mean that Stefano Ghisolfi could start last having to fight both worse friction and higher temperature in comparison to the guys going out first. Noteworthy is that Gabri Moroni, who won one event last year, will not compete for Italy as they have made in mandatory to go for all three disciplines, in order to get support. In the schedule, it says that the isolation will close 08.00 for the male and that the female will be finished by 22.00. Based on the large number of participants, they possibly will have to extend it. Ghisolfi just might have to spend 6 hours in isolation.

Taylor McNeill has done his third 8C, Squoze in Red Rocks. Video on his Insta "Couldn’t do any of the 3 hard moves for my first two days on it. Had a breakthrough on day 3, but still had some figures to do. Day 4 I sorted it out and somehow got it done Hardest I’ve ever climbed in shorts. Dope one from Jwebb. Hard to say on the grade. It’s the fastest I’ve ever done a boulder this hard but I’m also feeling really fit."

Edu Marin, who in 2006 won the World Cup in Chamonix, has done the FA of Valhalla 9a+ in Getu which has 14 pitches and overhangs by 304 meter. More info to come.

Visa det här inlägget på Instagram

Ett inlägg delat av Edu Marín (@edumarin1) 20 Mar 2019 kl. 9:10 PDT

Matt Fultz has had a great day in RMNP, having done two 8B+' in a day. In total the 27 year old has done 21 boulders 8B+ and as can be seen on his scorecard, he has been on a ten year almost steady progress. More info on his Insta. How have you been able to raise your level in 2019? The US Bouldering competition ended a couple months ago, so I have been 100% climbing outside or training on the hangboard/Tensionboard/ Moonboard. Just improving finger strength and power, and not worrying about long days in the gym doing comp-style problems. But most importantly, I’ve been psyched!

Anna Stöhr, possibly the best ever female competition boulderer, could not participate in the WCH last year due to a back injury. Last month she reported on Insta that she for the first time did not think of her back and did her hardest route Riflessi 8c. Yesterday, the bouldering queen did one more long endurance, Cinque Uve in Arco. (c) Michele Bort Anna has won both the World and the European Championship twice. Four years she has won the Boulder World Cup overall and in total the Austrian has won 22 WCs. In 2010, she became the second women to do an 8B, Riverbed.

Jonathan Siegrist has done the second repeat of Joe Kinder's Life Of Villains in Hurricave giving it a personal 9a grade. "It was a long and ferocious winter but through fiery stubbornness and many wet climbing days something cool finally." In total, the 33 year old has done 40 routes 9a to 9b and he is #3 in the 8a ranking game. (c) Chris Weidner

Gonzalo Larrocha has done his second 9a+, La Rambla in Siurana. More info to come. (c) Javi Pec

The 14th IFSC Plenary Assembly took place this week in Tokyo and Olympics, Gender equality and Para climbing were on the agenda. "The proposal to add a female athlete representative to the IFSC Executive Board was approved during the IFSC Plenary Assembly on Saturday. The representative will be elected at the upcoming IFSC World Championships in Hachioji in August, alongside other members of the Athletes’ Commission. A new career path is also being put into place to include more women on the routesetting and officiating teams for IFSC events." It was decided that the World Championship in 2021 will take place in Moscow. Further more, Vertical-Life did a presentation in regards the new results system they are developing. "The workshop concluded with a presentation from Matthias Polig, CEO of Vertical-Life. Contracted to develop a new membership database and competition result software, the company provides a range of digital tools to improve climbing development. Matthias’ presentation gave attendees a view of the digital future of our sport."

It is less then a month before the World Cup season will start. Here are some names that might be the new starts in 2019. Vadim Timonov, Yannick Flohe, Sam Avezou, Natsumi Hirano, Luka Potocar, Naile Meignan, Laura Lammer. Any more names you think can evolve to become a star 2019 on the senior circuit.