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

The seventh and last Lead WC takes place in Xiamen this weekend but there is not so much excitement. Among the female, the overall podium has already been set; Janja Garnbret, Jessica Pilz and Jain Kim. Among the male, Jakob Schubert and Stefano Ghisolfi have secured gold and silver. Romain Desgranges will most likely get the bronze if not Domen Skofic wins the last event. Also the Combined ranking, where you count the two best results, based on the relative ranking of the ones doing Combined, is more or less set as the best Japanese will not participate. On Sunday there will be live-streaming from Xiamen starting with semi at 13.00 and finals at 18.30.

Luca Bana has done Abusive Love 9a in Paline. ”Yeah! A 40 meters power-endurance challenge! Intro 8b+ into very pumpy/sustained 8c. 9a-range should be ok, but let's see what the others say!

Caroline Sinno, who previously has done seven 8A+’, has done her second 8B traverese* in Fontainebleau, Trafic. Great video. ”A dream came true! First 8B climbed by a woman Cathy Miquel back in 2002! A piece of history and power endurance. I would have never believed holding those infamous slopers and doing it in a few sessions ;)” * Most of the traverses in Font are graded based on a separate difficulty scale in between routes and boulders. This means that an 8B traverese could be compared with an 8A+ boulder.