Katha Saurwein, one of the best female multi discipline climbers, has done her first 8b trad, Tainted Love in Squamish. (c) Jon Glassberg "I knew I wanted to try ‘Tainted love’ before coming here as this stemming corner with an almost closed crack in the corner and blank sidewalls, first ascended by Hazel Findlay looked stunning. It’s about fifteen to twenty meters high and is protected by small offset wires and one cam. At first both Jorg (Verhoeven, who also did it) and I had a hard time getting off the ground, we didn’t know how to move, how to position our body. From session to we got a better feeling for the open dihedral and at one point we both had our own beta worked out, which was actually quite different, due to our height difference. On our fourth session our goal was to get used to placing the gear, but as I started climbing it felt great, so I just kept on going. I was so focused on my climbing that I wasn’t really scared, and as I slowly made it higher and higher I found myself up top before realizing what had happened."

Joe Kinder has done the FA of Diarrhea Mouth 9a in Rifle. His winter plan is working and to do an extension of his Bone Tomahawk 9a+ which could be his first 9b. (c) Steve Rokks "Done deal. Bolted May 2017, tried on 4 separate mini-trips since May 2018 when my career imploded. Super aggressive crux in a horizontal roof. I think I calculated 30 days. Life is different now, but I'm still going hard so fuck it all. Climbing is my love and passion and it's what I will always remember no matter what. All I need is the belief and support from the ones who love me."

Andrea Chelleris started climbing when he was 5 years old and one year later he did his first 7b. Last year he did his first 8a and this weekend he did Exit 8b+ in Cavazzo. During winter his focus is skiing, winning some comps, but during summer he climbs 3 - 5 times a week. "He has not a program of training. He just climbs the routes he likes", says his father Michele who does not climb any longer. Still the father's ticklist is more impressive compared to his 137 cm son.

karoline sinnhuber, who previously has done four 8B's, has done Die perfekte welle sit 8A+ in Ötztal. In total, the Austrian who was #8 in the Boulder WC in Munich this year, has done 66 boulders 8A and harder. © Manuel Schof

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Mathieu Holtz, who started out 2018 having done nine 8c's during the last six years, has done his second 9a, Bain de Sang in St Loup. Including also three 8c's, we asked 32-year-old, how he can explain this great progress. "Since I became a dad last year I’ve had less time for myself. I’ve put a lot more effort in my training so that I was able to make the most out of my free time. St Loup is a crag that perfectly suit my climbing style, like Bellosset. I don’t have any time to waste anymore and I always try to switch my mind into fighting mode so i can make every day out climbing count."

Yushiyiki Ogata set a personal best with 6.71 in Speed with Tomoa Narasaki runner up at 6.98. Bassa Mawem won and his best time was 5.60. Complete results Interesting is that only five Combined athletes, who normally make semi in Lead/Boulder, did get a results meaning that many guys did loose the opportunity to get a very good Speed results. As it was more or less the same thing last weekend, several guys who have twice made it to the semi in Lead/Boulder missed a great possibility to have gotten a good Combined result in 2018. In 2019, the Top-20 in the Combined World Cup will compete for six spots to Tokyo but as there is a limit to just two per nation, probably, all Top-14 among the male will make it. Among the female, Futaba Ito (16) had the fastest time at 10.34 followed by Akiyo Noguchi 10.69. In total, nine non-Speed specialists competed. Aries Susanti Rahayu won and her best time was 7.53.

Jessica Pilz, the Lead World Champion, got her second WC victory in Xiamen by topping both the semi and the final route. Janja Garnbret was runner up by topping the final but not the semi. Interestingly, Slovenia had four girls in the final and Japan three. 1. Jessica Pilz AUT - Domen Skofic SLO 2. Janja Garnbret SLO - Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN - Hyunbin Min KOR Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke Among the male, Domen Skofic won over Stefano Ghisolfi also on countback from the semi as they reached the same hold in the final. For Domen this was the first victory since 2016 when he won overall by winning three events.

1. Janja Garnbret SLO 550 - Jakob Schubert AUT 495 2. Jessica Pilz AUT 505 - Stefano Ghisolfi ITA 466 3. Jain Kim KOR 354 - Romain Desgranges/Domen Skofic 356 4. Manon Hily FRA 238 5. Mei Kotake JPN - 228 - Hyunbin Min KOR 251 Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke

National Team Ranking 1. Austria 1 528 2. Japan 1 468 3. Slovenia 1 428 4. France 959 5. Italy 822 Last year, Slovenia won ahead of France, Japan, Austria and Italy. Complete results