Romain Desgranges, who last week got the gold in the European Championship, won the first stage of the Lead World Cup. Last year the 34 year old was #3 in the Lead World Cup and this start of the season is actually just a continuation of an almost 14 year progress trend. Among the females, the 2016 overall winner Janja Garnbret won again and actually in a rather spectacular way getting a complete, just standing no-hands rest, before executing the last dyno. More great pictures by Eddie Fowke. 1. Romain Desgranges FRA - Janja Garnbret SLO 2. Domen Skofic SLO - Mina Markovic SLO 3. Fedir Samoilov UKR - Anak Verhoeven BEL 4. Jan Hojer GER - Jain Kim KOR 5. Yuki Hada JPN - Jessica Pilz AUT Complete results It's impressive that Slovenia with just 2 million inhabitants continues it's domination. The most surprising results is that Jan Hojer almost made the podium. The Boulder Champion also exceled in Speed with 8.56 and should just by this be a contender also for the Tokyo Combined podium. In a short comment after his climb, he said that he was really pleased to just make it to the semifinal as he has not for several months trained and done four routes during a weekend! It was also great to see that 16 year old Laura Rogara from Italy defended her #6 position from last weekend in the European Championship. This must be kind of a nice surprise for the young Italian who in the last European Youth Cup was #4.

Alex Puccio has done Freshly Squeezed 8A+ in RMNP. In total, the #2 in the Boulder World Champion, has done 66 boulders 8A+ to 8B+. (c) Joel Zerr "What a nice line!!! I tried it the other day for the first time. It was too hot and couldn't send. Went back today with better temps and sent first try from the start! This boulder is notorious for being hard. It's so steep that it's almost a roof and the feet are kind of small. The second move was actually the hardest for me since I was unable to keep the foot on for the bump move so I had to make it into a jump. Another classic off the list!"

Alex Khazanov has had a remarkable start of his Rockland trip by doing 16 boulders 8A and harder including five flashes. Yesterday he got his and Israel's first 8C by doing Fred Nicole's Monkey Wedding. (c) Valdo Chilese "I am truly happy, overwhelmed and humbled to send this boulder, further more in only 3 days of work. My first and Israel's first 8C. A dream..."

Jernej Kruder, one of the most multi discipline climbers in the world, has done a trad ascent of the bolted route Umazana igra 8b+ in Kotecnik. "I don't want to chop the bolts. It's just some people that say it is more ethical to removes bolts at such routes. At around ten meters you have two good cams and then you have to climb 15 moves (quite hard) and then you place one cam below that is hard to place...but still you need to do the last crux move above that." This year, the Slovenian was #7 in the Boulder World Cup. He has done two 8C's, DWS 9b and several hard multi-pitches. At the same time, the 26 year old has started to do Lead and Speed comps so it might be that the big plan is also to go for the Olympics. Today he was #11 on the the first qualification route in Villars but did not make it to the semi.

Reza Alipourshena and Anouck Jaubert won the Speed event in Villars and in fact, Jaubert did do the final twice as in the first final she had the exact same time as Iuliia Kaplina. Among the guys going for the Olympic, Jan Hojer impressed the most at 8.56 being overall #29 of the 40 participating. Video high lights (c) Eddie Fowke has presented a nice Gallery as always. Complete results

Dani Andrada reports on Instagram that he has done the FA of De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté in Rodellar which was bolted by Serge Casteran. Being uncertain of the grade he choose the double slash grade 9a+ or 9a/+, "to be decided by the repeaters... for me it is a very special route with a history in a very special place." The 42 year old is the one who has put up most hard routes around Lleida, making it the world's most popular hard core climbing area. For some 15 years ago, he started bolting in Santa Linya where he has put up a dozen 9a or harder routes. When it comes to 8a routes or harder, he has done to date 3.715 routes. The often used "A muerte" was also originally his trade mark.

William Bosi, who previously has done four 9a's out of which he gave 8c+ for two, has done a very quick ascent of Evolution 8c+ in Raven Tor. In the last European Cup he was #3 which also was the case for the last Boulder World Championship. (c) Band Of Birds "Evolution is an amazing route with climbing well suited to my style. I had set myself the goal of getting all the moves down in a session but I did not expect to send it. On my first go I went pretty quickly up just doing each move once and finding where to clip each draw. As soon as I got to the top I knew I could do it and believed I had a chance that day. My next attempt was just to put the rope in the second draw for the redpoint attempt. Next it was the send go! Everything came together really well. I climbed the route perfectly up to the half way make where I started getting tired. I almost blew it at the top as I hit the third to last hold with only two fingers but managed to sort myself and finish the route."

Marine Thevenet reports on Instagram that she has done her first 8B, Fragile Steps in Rocklands. In 2014 she was #7 in the Bouldering World Cup and later she left the scene. (c) Clément Lechaptois