Adam Ondra has done Drew Ruana's Assassin 9a in Smith Rocks which he did second go. "2nd ascent, crazy route with different sections and good rests in between." (c) Martin Kanurek In total total, the 25 year old has now recorded 172 routes 9a to 9c. Interesting insights on his Insta from Smith Rocks. "I love visiting new climbing places and I have been looking forward to this place so much! It is basically birthplace of America's sport climbing." He also met and give credits to Alan Watts, the pioneer of sport climbing in USA who in the early days got a lot of criticism." Video - Pioneering Smith Rocks.

Jonathan Guadalcazar has done his third 9a during the last 12 months, Viaje astral in Tarbena. Until 2016, the 25 year old had done just one 8c+ but during the last two years he has done five. "40m route very intense. First 20m 8c+ on small crimps without rests and after a water-polished laybacking crack ending on very small crimps."

The 2019 competition season will finish with the Olympic Qualifying event in Toulouse 28/11 to 1/11 where the Top-20 in the Combined ranking will participate for six spots, excluding the seven that qualified during the World Championship in August in Japan. In practice this could mean that among the male, that even being ranked #32 you might be selected for the qualifying event as Japan could have eight in Top-32. In theory, if countries like Italy and Germany will fill their country quota in the World Championship, it might be good enough to be Top-35. This means that the chances for the Speed specialists to compete in Toulouse is quite high. As their maximum score in the qualifying event is 1 * 20 * 20 = 400, this might be good enough for being Top-6 and to get a ticket for Tokyo. It should be mentioned that excluding the Top-7 in the World Championship from participating in Toulouse could be consider not fair. In fact, Toulouse is the only event where you can "train" and prepare on the identical format as in Tokyo 2020. Detailed info how to qualify.

Carlo Traversi has done the second ascent of Beth Rodden's Meltdown 8c+ in Yosemite which since 2008 have been seen as possibly the hardest trad route in the world. "This season it all came together. A dry Fall and this week the colder temps are just sweeping into the Valley. Yesterday I was able to climb it on my 3rd try of the day after a couple weird slips after the crux on the first two tries. All gear was placed on lead, after the first piece was placed I climbed back down to the ground to re-chalk and re-compose." Carlo's background is bouldering where he during two years until 2013 did five 8C's. Then in 2015 he did two 9a's and on his Insta he then reported he was close doing Meltdown after three years of sporadic effort.

In 1996, being 15 years old, Chris Sharma was #2 in the World Lead Championship and the next year he won his first World Cup he entered. In 2001, he won the Bouldering WC in Munich. During the La Sportiva Legends in Stockholm 24/11, Sharma will compete against some of the very boulderers in the world; Jernej Kruder, Jongwon Chon, Alex Megos, Rei Sugimoto and Alexey Rubtsov. If he not ends last, it must be considered sensational. What if this is a test for going for the Olympics 2020? IFSC will through a Tripartite Commission invite one male and female that have not made it through the qualification competitions.

Alex Totkova, who the last two weeks has done two 8b's, has done 4*4 8b+ in Vratsa. "The route was so important for me because this is my first 8b+. On 4x4 the first 10 meters was boulder 7c. And the other 20 meters was 7c+ or 8a. I was very happy when I did it and I coun't believe that I climbed it." The last three years she has won all the Lead comps she has done in Bulgaria, Petzen, Imst and Arco.

IFSC has published the provisional Calendar for 2019 including 6 events in all three disciplines. 05/04 Meiringen SUI Boulder 13/04 Moscow RUS Boulder/Speed 27/04 Chonqing CHN Boulder/Speed 04/05 Wujinang CHN Boulder/Speed 18/05 Munich GER Boulder 07/06 Vail USA Boulder 05/07 Villars FRA Lead/Speed 11/07 Chamonix FRA Lead/Speed 19/07 Briancon FRA Lead 20/08 Tokyo JPN Combined World Championship 28/09 Kranj SLO Lead 19/10 Xiamen CHN Lead/Speed 26/10 Inzai JPN Lead 28/11 Toulouse FRA Olympic Qualification As the most important event for the ones going for Tokyo 2020 are the world Championship and the Olympic qualification event, most probably, most will cherry pick which comps to focus at. It is not wise to travel around the globe almost non-stop for seven months without resting prior to the qualification in Toulouse. From a logistic and cost point of view; skipping Vail, Xiamen and Inzai will make everything much easier at least for the Europeans. For the non-Europeans avoiding Kranj and Munich will make life easier. On the other hand, as many of the best probably will not do all WCs, it is a golden opportunity to focus on the World Cup in one discipline giving low priority for the Olympics. The twist is also that the Top-7 in the World Championship in Tokyo in August will qualify for the 2020. Most probably, these qualifiers will limit their competing during the autumn opening up for better results for the lower ranked.

Carlos Ruano has made the FA of El Dorado 9a in La Pedriza, Spain. The 38 years old has previously done one 9a and several boulders up to 8B+. ©Talo Martin "The start of the route is a 8A+/B boulder, then follows a 7C+ and huge 7C dyno to catch the lip and there's no rest in its 12 meters. Despite the crux is in the bottom part I fell 5 times in the last hard move. "

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Moritz Perwitzschky has done his first 9a, Working class in Frankenjura, which he marked as chipped. "Lot of fixed holds, went down quick, M. Bock suggested 9a, I can't really tell, haven't tried much in that grade." During the last month, the 19 year old has done six routes 8C and harder and he is #4 in the Combined ranking game.