Cathy Wagner has done two 8a+', in Aixorta, Los Angeles de Daddy and Bien atrapado. "A perfect link-up starting on the first 5 bolts of Buenas migas then leftwards into Atrapados. This combo skips the chipped start and the no-hand rest straight after. Good knee-bar skills make a difference in the upper part." During the last month, the 52 year old has also done seven 8a's and in total she has done 645 routes 8a and harder. Is there any female who has done more? Interestingly, it seems Cathy continues to progress and her last year is actually her best ever. If she would have participated in the 8a age bonus ranking game, Cathy would have been #2 in the world after Adam Ondra.

Reino Horak, former Swedish National coach who now works as the National coach for Norway, shares his somewhat boring experience looking at the 3.5 hours boulder finals in Moscow. He has previously possibly seen a dozen boulder finals in the front row but this was the first time way back with the spectators. - Within an hour, many around me started to get bored during all these one minute breaks in between tries. After two hours even myself started to loose interest as it was just too many dead moments. Normally, when I am in the front row, you can observe so many details and feel the pulse, breathing and the adrenaline from the climb. Sitting just 50 meters away, I must say, after three hours, all these dead moments with long waiting in between attempts, the format need to be speeded up giving more excitement for the spectators. Around me I actually saw people almost fell a sleep in their chairs. The simple solution is to just the female and male compete at the same time but personally, I would like to go for the solution as pointed out in the 11 point system format with three climbers rotating at the first three boulders.

Alex Puccio has done her 25th 8B, Green in the face in Cadtle Rock and amazingly it went down in just some 45 minutes. "3rd try from the start and 5th try in total. Fell going to the last hold before the send go.... really sharp rock, but fun climbing for sure!!! Lots of small holds, my style I guess. :) Small little crimpy holds on about 30 degree overhung wall." Alex at 153 cm and 56 kg's says she is some four kg's heavier than the last year. "Honestly haven’t felt like I’m in great shape since the past 4 months. I can definitely feel the weight difference right now when I climb, but I still feel strong and powerful."

From the World Cup rankings we can see the total Japanese male domination, six in Top-13 and 8 in Top-17. Among the female, two in the Top-3. In regards the world ranking, based on the last 12 months, 9 male Japaneses among Top-15. It must be very few sports that have seen such an extreme domination from one country. Runner-up, is the very small country Slovenia with just 2 million inhabitants, with two in Top-7 among both male and female. Based on that the next two World Cups are in China followed by one in Tokyo, most likely, we will see an even stronger Japanese domination in the ranking lists coming up. Last year, Japan participated with 41 athletes in Tokyo but this year they will be allowed to compete with 47.

Five of the female semifinalist in Meiringen made it to the final also in Moscow and the one missing, Sandra Lettner, did not participate. Among the male, four are the same as in the last event. Japan and Slovenia got three in total to the final and the Japanese domination continues with four male in Top-10 and three female in Top-8. Complete results All boulders were topped out and in fact, based on the top out percentage, it seems they were all of similar difficulty. This is very seldom the case and the route setting also in terms of style and variation were extraordinary great.

Excellent route setting also in the final in Moscow where it was thrilling to the very last try. Janja Garbret had to flash and so she did, winning on count back over Miho Nonaka. Also last starter in the final, Jongwon Chon had the chance to secure the victory but could not reach the top, and ended #4. As you can see below, Slovenia and Japan shared the podiums equally. 1. Janja Garnbret SLO 44:7/5 - Tomoa Narasaki JPN 44 2. Miho Nonaka JPN 44:7/5 - Jernej Kruder SLO 34:5 3. Akiyo Noguchi JPN 34 Gregor Vezonik SLO 34:6 Complete results Noteworthy is also that Vezonik was #51 in Meiringen last week. Eddie Fowke from The Circuit Climbing and the IFSC official photographer, who has captured almost all World Cups the last five years, was very impressed of the whole competition and the final show. "Very good comp. Too many dyno's in finals though. Super well run, the Russian's put on a great show and put a huge effort into everything going right." In Speed, Yoshiyuki Ogata was best of the top ranked boulderers being #43 with 7.90. Among the female, Miho Nonaka was #44 with 10.51.

The Bouldering World Cup is booming and there are 118 male in the starting list for the qualification starting 07.30, Euro time, Saturday morning. The female begin 15.00 with 100 female participating. On Sunday there will be live-streaming from the semi starting 08.00. The finals start 17.00 with the female and around 18.30 with the male. Live results