University student (although candidate to firefighter if his diopters don't get increase), Lucas de Jesús is one of the young spanish crushers that send 9a's. After a successful summer in Rodellar, he answers some questions about his workday routine to send his first 9a. (C) Guillermo Domínguez Looks like 2017 is your year, isn't it? I think that 2017 is the most I have ever climbed. I moved to study in Huesca last September and since February I have been climbing 4-5 days per week. I almost stop with the gym just to be focused outdoors and climb everywhere. During the summer I've been working in Rodellar and I could climb everytime I wasn't working. Did you clearly think to climb a 9a when you started climbing of was it just 'accidental'? I couldn't believe it. Two years ago I was still talking with my friends about 9a's as something out of our range. It was something big and I never had the courage to try once. This suited me and it was just be stubborn and persistent. What about Olympics, do you fancy? I love the idea about the climbing scene into the Olympics because it will bring many advantages to this sport, but the format is a mistake because in Speed there will be not seen anybody climbing that 15m wall in 6 seconds, and the same in Boulder and Lead. Can you imagine a non-disciplines athletic championships where a guy like Usain Bolt is out of the final cause he wasn't good in marathon? Maybe is excessive, but in many ways is the same. And of course that I would like to go, but I think that I will watch it on TV.. I'm realistic and I know it will not happen because in Spain there are a lot of climbers with a level above mine and in addition they're focused on it. We need to push the youngsters for Tokyo 2020."

Mateusz Haladaj has repeated Stal Mielec 9a in Dolina Kluczwody. "The hardest line of Poland, was close to make the FA in 2015. Feeling fit after a first real training period in my life." Before doing any real training, the Pole had done ten 9a's and two 9a+'. Adam Kokot

Jan-Luca Posch AUT - Franziska Sterrer AUT Peter Ivanov BUL - Elena Krasovskaia RUS Paul Jenft FRA - Naile Meignan FRA Complete results Overall, France and Austria were the best nations and Slovenia continues the trend with relatively poor results. Interesting was that the results in between the qualification and the final were up-side-down. The six winners qualified to the final as 4.2, meaning that they started early and had the advantage with fresh holds. None of the qualification winners won also the final. Instead, they placed on average 3.2 in the final.

Filip Schenk, who got a gold in Boulder and silver in Combined at YWC, flashing all the eight final boulders, lives in Val Gardena high up in the middle of the Dolomite mountains. In the picture Filip is flashing a light after having climbed a multi-pitch that starts from his village. Thomas Monsorno - I started climbing when I was six years old and the first years we went out rock climbing every weekend up in the mountains and sometimes also multi-pitches. Once I started to train for competition less outdoors but I always have also some outdoor projects. During this summer he has been in Magic Woods where he did two 8B's and flashed Jack's Broken Heart. The week before the YWC he went to Frankenjura where he did an 8c. - I train mainly in my home gym also because it is not easy to find the time because we had many comps this summer. I normally train about 5 times a week and there for 2 till 4 hours, it depends always from what I have to do. I often do endurance and power exercise or also just trying boulders and routes. It was really nice and also interesting to compete in the combined because it was something new. Also if I have to say that I like the individual disciplines more but maybe I will change opinion with some more speed training! For the youth Olympics I will for sure do some more speed training. Before Innsbruck I haven't done much speed maybe about 10 sessions. Tokyo would be for sure nice but also quite difficult that I can go because of the low number of participants but I will definitely try it!

Alex Puccio, who just won the Arco Rockmaster after having prepared in Magic Wood, did again in Adidas Rockstar. She was in the lead after the two first boulders where three out of six were eliminated and she was in the lead in before the superfinal. In the interview she said that after some competition break she has come back with a, "free spirit and stronger mentality." Last year, Tomoa Narasaki won after having done the super final boulder in 14 seconds and this year, he did it in 16 seconds. Also the Japanese lead after all rounds coming into the super final. From the complete results we can see that among the 6 + 6 finalists, 3 + 3 of them where from Japan. In total, only Shauna Coxsey from a country in western Europe and she was tied at last place. Overall, the Adidas Rockstar was again a huge success for the organzer and 3 500 in the crowd, as well as the athletes, enjoyed it to the fullest. The six route setters did, as almost always in bouldering comps nowadays, a perfect job.

Chris Sharma reports on Instagram that he has made the FA of Big Fish 8c+/9a on Mallorca with the crux 20+ meters above the Mediterranean sea. When it comes to DWS, Sharma is the master of both grade and beauty, including the FA of Es Pontas 9b and his recent 8b+ above a river. (c) Joao Giacchin - I actually scoped it like 12 years ago. Last year I climbed part of the line but with an easier finish so this year was great to take it up a couple steps and finish the complete line. I did work it out on a rope. Without bolts I had to do some very creative aid climbing to get in to the holds and try the moves. Anyways of course it's high and I fell several times at the very top but I don't want this to be seen as a crazy reckless activity. The mentality is very similar to bouldering and once you test out the falls you gain more confidence but still always have to be somewhat in control.

More info atAdidas Rockstar.

It seems like the new route setting mainly on volumes goes hand-in-hand with the recent extreme progress for the Japanese national teams. Previously, route setting with smaller holds and more obvious solutions, seems to more have favored power in Bouldering and endurance in Lead. Climbing on volumes means instead that your technical, tactical and mental skills are challenged more. It is not good enough to be the strongest any longer. If there are volumes ahead of you, you need a bigger repertoire of moves and to be able to make intuitive decisions how to find rests and clip in strange positions. It is about going for the next unknown hold dynamically, losing balance and just keep going, rather than doing an obvious hard lock-of static cross over closed crimp move and then rest for 30 seconds on some jugs. In fact, the Japanese coaches have said that power and endurance are what they focus on least. Instead, they just to go for as many challenges as possible, having fun jumping around above the madras. This also goes along with the Japanese culture focusing on improvements and continuous cooperation. If the coaches see that an athlete lack a particular strength, they just build and recommend doing such moves rather than start lifting weights. The sweet thing is of course that once all gyms around the world have more volumes and walls with more different angles, climbing will become even more fun to watch, we might see less closed crimp finger injuries for the youth and it will be more fun to train in order to become the Olympic Champion. We are back to the roots - Monkey swinging climbing! (c) Eddie Fowke

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