Daniel Woods has added some 60 ascents to his scorecard which now includes 1 182 ascents. In total he has done 22 boulders 8C's and 3 8C+' and one 9b which he did this year. In the Combined 8a ranking game, he is #2. Although just 29 years old, he has been one of the best climbers in the world for 12 years straight. In 2010, he won the Boulder WC in Vail and another three times, he has stood on the podium. (c) Matty Hong

Samuel Ometz, who has done 16 boulders 8B+ and 8C, has done his first 9a, Cabane au Canada in Rawyl. (c) Rainer Eder "Summergoal achieved! Probably not the hardest for the grade, but a good challenge if you come from bouldering and have to build the endurance. I had some Finger injuries the past two years that didn't allow me to climb at 100%, which was getting frustrating over time. So this spring I decided to seriously try sport climbing as it's less intense on the fingers and there is a lot of climbing around my home that I never even tried. Now there are so many projects I want to do! Plan for this autumn is to try some shorter routes to transition better to the bouldering winter season. The main two lines I want to try are Coup de grace and an unclimbed project close to my home.

alizee dufraisse has done her third 8B the last month in Rocklands, Fragile Steps which she gives a personal 8A+ grade as it just took her three sessions. In the 8a ranking game, the French is #5. "Now Switzerland and USA more bouldering before Spain and La Rambla. I m super sycked to go back this winter!! Let's see. I'll focus on that all winter. Start some route climbing in America before, mixing with bouldering and then Spain."

Paige Claasen, reports on Insta that she has done the second ascent of Jonathan Siegrist Algorithm 9a in the Fins. In total, it took her eight days to send the 40 m almost vertical wall. Paige, who was #14 in the Bouldering World Championship in 2007, has previously done both 8c+ as well as 8B. Here is a great Beth Rodden interview from last year where she talks about her life in Colorado and South Africa. "I started Southern Africa Education Fund because I firmly believe that education is the only path out of poverty."

Who will win the Lead World Championship, including speculative odds. 1. Janja Garnbret 1.3 - Adam Ondra 3 2. Jessica Pilz 4 - Jakob Schubert 3.5 3. Anak Verhoeven 5 - Stefano Ghisolfi 6 4. Jain Kim 10 - Romain Desgranges 8 5. Akiyo Noguchi 12 - Domen Skofic 10 6. Miho Nonaka 20 - Alex Megos 12 Contenders: Helene Janicot, Manon Hily, Ashima Shiraishi, Mei Kotake - 30 Shuta Tanaka, Sascha Lehmann, Max Rudigier and Tomoa Narasaki - 30

The European Youth Bouldering Championship was a great success with excellent route setting throughout the competition. All but one boulders were topped at the same time few made all tops. In the oldest male category, Filip Schenk, starting last as he won the qualification, had to flash the last boulder to win, which nobody had made before him. Overall, France and Slovenia did dominate as they normally do. 99: Filip Schenk ITA - Mia Krampl SLO 01: Sam Avezou FRA - Lucka Rakovec SLO 03: Cruzitis Edvards LAT - Naile Meignan FRA Complete results

Kim Marschner, who previously has done just one 8B+, has in just six sessions taken down Spray of Light 8C in Rocklands. More info on his Insta. Part of the reason why he is lacking ascents in his grade pyramid is probably due to his focus also on competitions the last years. This season, he once made it to the semifinal in a Bouldering WC.

1. Janja Garnbret 2 - Jernej Kruder 3 2. Miho Nonaka 3.1 - Tomoa Narasaki 3.5 3. Akiyo Noguchi 3.2 - Jakob Schubert 4 4. Fanny Gibert 4 - Jongwon Chon 5 5. Alex Puccio 10 - Adam Ondra 6 6. Stasa Geio 18 - Rei Sugimoto 10 Contenders: Katja Kadic, Petra Klingler, Ekatarina Kipriianova, Jessica Pilz - 15 Gregor Vezonik, Kokoro Fujii, Yushiyuki Ogata, Alexsei Rubtsov - 12

The World Championship in Innsbruck will be the first big test prior to the Olympics in Tokyo 2020. The good news is that almost all the top names will try out Combined*. First they compete as normal in the three disciplines and based on the overall multiplicative ranking, the Top-6 will move to the final and do all three disciplines again. Here is a speculative ranking. Who is missing and who should be higher up? 1. Tomoa Narasaki - Janja Garnbret 2. Jakob Schubert - Miho Nonaka 3. Adam Ondra - Akiyo Noguchi 4. Jongwon Chon - Claire Buhrfeind 5. Alex Megos - Jessica Pilz 6. Yushiyuki Ogata - Jain Kim Contenders: Kokoro Fujii - Stasa Geio Jan Hojer - Brooke Raboutou Mickel Mawem - Ashima Shiraishi Manuel Cornu - Alex Puccio Bassa Mawem - Petra Klingler Jernej Kruder - Manon Hily Domen Skofic - Sandra Lettner Meichi Narasaki - Laura Stöckler Kai Harada - Anna Tsyganova* Aleksei Rubtsov - Margo Hayes William Bosi - Vita Lukan Rei Sugimoto - Mei Kotake Yannick Flohe - Ekatarina Kipriianova Sean McColl - Sol Sa The only big stars that will not do the Combined is Stefano Ghisolfi, Romain Desgranges, Anak Verhoeven and Fanny Gibert. *Anna is a Speed specialist who has been #2 in a Speed WC in 2018 at the same time she has been #23 in Lead and #29 in Boulder. Her Combined results, among the ones doing all three disciplines, in Innsbruck could be 1 * 20 *30 = 600, which probably would get her in Top-6. If she makes the final, she would probably get 1 * 6 * 6 = 36 which beats 3 * 4 * 4 = 48. As a matter of a fact 36 points could actually be enough for getting a medal, but first she has to make it to the Top-6 final which is less likely.

Margo Hayes created history in February 2017 by becoming the first woman to do 9a+, through La Rambla in Siurana. Later she did another 9a+ classic, Biographie in Céüse. (c) Matty Hongy Here is a high class 28 min documentary - Do not miss it! Now she is in Innsbruck for the World Championship and her next goal is Tokyo 2020. Here is an 8a training interview after she had done La Rambla.