Thilo Jeldrik Schröter has done his second 8B flash, Nagual in Hueco Tanks. "Last day best day. Two rest days leading up to this." Full story at his Insta. During his five weeks in Hueco Tanks, which started rather slowly due to finger problems, the Norweigian did 28 boulders 8A and harder out of which nine flashes.

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Ett inlägg delat av adidasrockstars (@adidasrockstars) 19 Feb 2019 kl. 1:52 PST

Fedir Samoilov, who did his first 9a when he was 18 years old, has done his third Seleccio Natural in Santa Linya. "The hardest 9a I've ever tried totally unfit to my stile of climbing." In 2017, the Ukrainian was #9 in the Lead World Cup and last season he was Top-11 in the last three events.

Magnus Midtbo, #4 in the World Champion 2011, has over 200 000 followers on his Youtube channel. He is also known for doing several one-finger pull ups. In short six seconds dead hang followed by four minutes rest and four sets. Also boulder problems without feet.

Cathy Wagner, famous for having done 709 routes 8a and harder since 1994, has done Aromes de Fontanella 8a (+) in Tres Ponts and flashed Andrada 8a in Roc Galliner at 1 500 metres in Spain. Noteworthy is that this was just her fourth 8a flash and the first in seven years for the 53 year old. "Crazy line at the top in a major sector with memorable access! 4 hours round trip and a perfect flash between the two!

Jorg Verhoeven, Lead World Cup winner in 2008 and for many year an athlete spokesmen for IFSC, has posted a critical view on his Insta in regards the Olympic format in Tokyo and Paris. "The single disciplines are slowly crumbling, with many federations choosing to fund/send their 'Olympic climbers', rather than their best climbers. An entire generation of comp climbers is focusing on a discipline that the IFSC has already chosen to abandon." As an example, Gabri Moroni has posted on his Insta that the Italian federation has decided to not cover any costs what so ever for the guys not focusing on all three disciplines. The Paris Olympic news looked good for the development of Sport Climbing but on the other hand, from the athletes point of view it is rather strange. From May 2020, there will only be 20 male and 20 female who will train all three disciplines in the world. Once the Olympic Games is over in August 2020 and the medals have been handed out, there will never in the future be climbers who will focus on competing all three disciplines.

Giuliano Cameroni, who previously has done seven 8C's, has sent his first 8C+ by the FA of Poison the Well in Brione. In the ranking game, the 21 year old Swiss is #3 after Woods and Webb. "The boulder is a 40 degree overhanging wall. There aren’t many trickeries, only think you need is power and finger strength. There are seven moves, but the crux involves around the 5th and the 6th move, which could be considered 8C itself. It’s been a know project for more than ten years now, it’s the logical direct version to the classic Pamplemousse (8A). It took me 8 days during a month and a half. The key was resting the specific muscles and waiting for the good conditions. Since you have to be super accurate, you also need a bit of luck to stick the crux hold perfectly. But the stronger you are and the easier it is to be precise, so after 8 days everything felt a little better."

The last chance to qualify to the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 are the five Continental Championships during April and May 2020. This should also, especially among the male, be the best chances for the Speed specialist to qualify. As there is a cap of two per country, in the 2019 Asian Championships with all the super strong male guys from Japan, you might qualify being #10. On the other hand, any Speed specialist qualifying to the Top-8 will mathematically be at worst #5 overall but most probably #4 just by finishing 1 - 8 - 8. Then the Speed specialist just have to hope the 3-4 guys in front did already get their ticket in 2019. To sum up, chances are great that at least one Speed specialist per gender will make it to Tokyo. If not there is the Tripartite commission for one selected male and female who did not qualify through results.