Tomoa Narasaki reports on Insta that he won the Japanese Combined Championship and set a new Speed record at 6.87. 8a has previously said that he is one of the favourites to take the Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020. At this point, Tomoa should be considered the number one candidate together with Adam Ondra.

Based on 800+ unique votes, "What would be your dream experience? In brackets the result to a similar poll in 2010. 22 % Having done Action Directe (23) 16 % To do an 8C+ boulder (14) 15 % 2 weeks big wall FA (11) 14 % To do 9c (9b+: 10) 08 % DWS Es Pontas 9b, Solo El Capitain (16) 06 % Winning Olympic gold (WCH 5) 03 % Stand on Mount Everest (5) 06 % Others (7)

Adam Mach has done his third 9a in June in Dolina Kluczwody, Game over. ”Today we had a rainy day so I went to the cave and tried the last connection. It is an 8b with an 8c+, some 60 moves.”

Leah Dempsey has done Combat Wombat 8A in Sunny side outside Sydney. ”Epic fun! Not too hard with the right beta, despite the forever wet juggy pocket, blehhh.”

Martin Stráník, silver in the WCH in bouldering in 2007 and also in a WC in both 2015 and 2016, has done the FA of Tekuté Štěstí 8C in Moravsky Kars. In the 8a ranking game, the 28 year old is #3. More info on his Insta. "I tried it barely during last years doing stand up version and figure out sitstart moves, proces of proper trying was three days. It is great powerful problem with hard ending."

Shawn Raboutou reports on Insta that he has done Nalle Hukkataival's The Finnish Line in Rocklands. Hukkataival gave it 8C/+ but also 8C+ have been forwarded. Shawn is the first to suggest 8C. Shawn is son to some of the best climbers in the world during the 80-90'; Didier Raboutou and Robyn Erbesfield. Including several 8C's and also 9a+, Shawn, as well as his younger sister Brooke, are also two of the best in their generation.

If you are up for a long dynamic move and the hold you are landing on is a jug. It is pretty simple. Just go as dynamic as possible. If you on the other hand, is going very long for a smaller hold, it is very important that the dyno is done as static as possible. The reason for this is that once you are going dynamic, you have almost lost all contact with the lower hand. Without and contact strength on the lower hand, it is less likely that you will control the upper hand. In pother words, doing a long move to a not so good hold, it is about being brave and doing the move as static as possible which could mean you are not actually getting the height for it. It is also about, thinking about your power in the lower hand, meaning NOT focusing on the upper hold. This is pretty advance as your eyes are looking at the hold and fingers which should not, power wise, be in focus. As a matter of a fact, the best way to practice this is that your partner say something like - Lower hand static strength, just when you are about to execute. Otherwise, your reptile brain is most likely to kick in and you launch yourself like a rocket to the next hold.

Here is a popular article from 2005 - Short cuts to 8a. "We have ranked 12 strategical and practical short cuts in order to push grades. Most climbers focus on strength, i.e. in comparison it is easier to develop technical, tactical and mental skill, which are in focus here. Give highest priority to the first four short cuts as the biggest gains are found here. The last four are really supplementary studies for reaching 8a and beyond."

Domen Škofic, Lead WC winner 2016, has had a great day in Kotecnik where he did two 8c+'; Miza za šest and Beautiful Pain, which he did second go. (c) Just Vidic How is your training preparations for the Lead WC going Nothing special, the only thing is that I finally started to climb more outside again and I like it a lot. I feel in a good shape but everybody trains hard and we’ll see what happens this year. I’m just excited for the season to finally start again.