Gabri Moroni and Akiyo Noguchi won the World Cup in Japan after also having won the semifinal. Overall the boulders were a bit too hard with three female and two male not doing one single boulder. Luckily both the male and female comp finished with Gabri and Akiyo topping out with flashes. 1. Gabri Moroni ITA 24 - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 33:5 2. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 13:1 - Miho Nonaka JPN 33:6 3. Rei Sugimoto JPN 13:4 - Ekatarina Kipriianova Rus 22 Complete results Interesting is that Gabri Moroni was #7 in his Boulder World Cup debut in 2004. Later the same year he got the bronze in the European Championship being just 16 years old. Between 2007 and 2009, he had his most successful years getting a silver in each year, being #6, 4 and 3 overall. Later during 25 World Cups and Championships he was at best #6 until 2017. With two 9a+' and one 8C, the Italian is one of the best sport climber during the last 15 years.

1. Jernej Kruder 345 - Akiyo Noguchi 430 2. Tomoa Narasaki 331 - Miho Nonaka 420 3. Alexsei Rubtsov 259 - Fanny Gibert 250 4. Rei Sugimoto 222 - Stasa Gejo 222 5. Kokoro Fujii 217 - Katja Kadic Complete results National Team Ranking 1. Japan 1 882 2. Slovenia 999 3. France 660 4. Austria 523 5. Russia 506

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peter dawson has done Rainshadow 9a in Malhalm. In the 8a Combined 8a ranking game, the 19 year old is #10. "My first 9a. A bouldery crux after Raindogs then a 8a+ power endurance fest."

France totally dominated the European Youth Cup in Bouldering in Delft with three golds and another four medals. Interesting is that Sandra Lettner, who was #4 in the only World Cup she has done this year, was also fourth among the ones born 01. 99: Peter Ivanov BUL - Mattea Pötzi AUT 01: Matteo Baschieri ITA - Favy Cohaut FRA 03: Paul Jenft FRA - Naile Meignan FRA

The Hachioji Bouldering World Cup started with almost perfect route setting for the female who put up a great show. No big sensations beside Oceania Mackenzie (15) from Australia, #15 in Youth World's last year, made it through. Also four Japanese and three from USA made it to the Top-20 semi. Interesting is that Speed specialist Anna Tsyganova was #25 and that the fastest non-Speed specialist, Claire Buhrfeind was #15. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing, with 80 female pics in his gallery.

Christof Rauch, the full time worker who has done 118 boulders 8A and harder the last year, has done Viva La Evolution in Flirsch giving it a personal grade of 8B+. (c) Toby Saxton ”Second ascent of this mystical Bernd Zangerl problem from 2002. Awesome boulder with some small and pretty sharp crimps. Getting to the boulder is quite a mission but the line, the amazing location and the view makes it worth it. Already came really close last year but afterwards I found out that I tried it from a wrong start, the real start is more on the left. Originally it was graded 8C but I think 8B+ fits better.

Alfons Dornauer, who has been #27 in one Boulder WC this year, has done the second ascent of Sierra Madre 8C in Zillertal. (c) Matthias Schiestl "Definitely the best and hardest line so far in Zillertal. Also my hardest ascent yet. I haven`t done many really hard problems so it`s hard to compare but I think it`s either hard 8b+ or soft 8c. Amazing work by Flo Schmalzl for cleaning and making the first ascent of such a line! Also big thanks to Matthias Schiestl for the support! It seems like Zillertal 2.0 is on!!! Feeling definitely in really good shape at the moment so it's good to see that the training pays of when it doesn't really work out in competitions."

Karo Sinnhuber did yesterday two 8A's in a day in Silvretta, Sucker Pain and Maribou. "Felt amazing, getting ready for Rocklands in 2 weeks!". The day before she sent another 8A, Diamonds Nuts. In 2017 had several injuries and she could not compete in the Bouldering WC. Karo has in her scorecard 60 problems from 8A to 8B. ©Manuel Schof

Sometimes there's good crags to climb but you don't know wich is the limit of the bolts when the rock is as soft as in Cueva del Arenal, Spain. The routes' equippers noticed in their blog (in spanish) that some of the bolts meticulously placed went out due a very bad sandstone quality, luckily it happened on the very last ones meaning no ground-fall potential danger. Sandstone normaly has a compact layer outside and becomes softer inside. The glue bolts won't work if the rock is too loose. If you're bolting a route in sandstone and the bolt hole is always sandy better if you stop. Even if it is a 12mm rod with glue it won't work in the future.