Sebastien BOUIN recently did the first repeat of Salida del Sol in Cantobre, suggesting a personal downgrade to 8c+. He stated that it was considerably easier if you dropped one shoe before the final crux. (c) Etienne Tafary "Interesting in this route is the way to do the crux. I had a problem in the last move of the hard section as I couldn't put my left foot in a hole and go to the next good hold. So with a friend we tried it without the shoe because the toe could enter in the hole. And in fact, the move was easier... Hopefully, after the crux, we didn't need the left foot. The problem was to quit the shoe before the crux! So we decided to drop the left shoe on the last rest before the crux, and to do first moves of the crux without the left shoe. Like that, I think the route is around 8c+. It's a funny beta, we have to think more often on our foot possibility without climbing shoes. Sometime it could be a real help."

Having done 21 (25) routes 9a or harder since 2011, including ten FAs, Sebastien BOUIN is Top-5 in the redpoint world in the last five years. Last year he did Chilam Balam and gave it 9a+/b, calling the FA grade of 9b+ a huge joke. He has also given personal 8c+ grades for Era Vella and Esclatamasters, and a couple more routes. Since last year, the 23-year-old has worked in Paris as a sport teacher during the autumn. Being a fanatic outdoor climber, he's put up 50+ FAs, and he's traveled every other weekend to sunny crags in the south. His spring plans include La Rambla (9a+) and Jumbo Love (9b) plus repeats of classic hard core old-school routes. For the summer, there is Flatanger. "For my training, I have no habit. I use what I find in my way (climbing gym, gym, trees, barn, rocks). I have only plans in my head about what I need to progress. Sometimes only abs, sometimes musculation, sometimes force or resistance, or pull ups to destroy yourself before the rest day. I do it with feeling, but also with a lot of harsh. That's why I start to work with PUC series, you can train everywhere. I did compete when I was young, but now, I am not strong enough to do both compete and cliff, like Adam. If I want to compete, I have to train a lot in gym, but I loose motivation like that. And, if you loose motivation you die. I find exciting to travel and find a project. I also like the approach. The project give you the way to train. How could you do to crush this route? You have to think to find a good training to progress in order to be stronger in the route. I progress with the difficulties I find in the projects. I also find interesting the travels, you learn a lot about life. In competition, it's not the same kind of travel, you don't learn about culture, language, people. " Picture by Raphael Fourau from his 9a+ (b) project La rage d'Adam in Verdon. Mangarbo 9a/+ FA video.

There is a risk that there is no excitement left as the last climber starts in Tokyo, as the podium ranking might already been set. One possibility is that the last climber was #5 in Boulder and #15 in Speed. Even if that climber wins the Lead final, he/she gets a total of 21 ranking points which most likely will not score podium. On the other hand, the climber starting last might have been #1 in Boulder and #3 in Speed. Even if that person is last in the final, #8, he/she could have secured the overall title before climbing. On the other hand, if you decide to have eight guys in the Duel final, the Lead final might be dead boring as possibly most of these guys will have qualified for the Duel Top-8 final anyway.

It will be pretty hectic for the youngsters living outside Austria to participate in the record number of IFSC Youth Euro Cups and Championships 2017. Noteworthy is that there is just one Speedcup in the provisional calendar. 29/4 Bouldercup Graz - Austria 20/5 Bouldercup Soure - Portugal 27/5 Leadcup Imst - Austria 10/6 Leadcup Dornbirn - Austria 24/6 Leadcup Bern - Switzerland 18/7 Bouldercup L'Argentiere - France 05/8 Bouldercup Sofia - Bulgaria 12/8 Leadcup Mitteldorf - Austria 27/7 Speedcup Imst - Austria 30/8 World Champion Innsbruck - Austria 14/9 Euro Boulder Champion Slany - Czech Republic 28/9 Euro Lead/Speed Champion Perm - Russia

Having talked to several of the best competition climbers and some coaches, you can understand that there are a lot of things going on in IFSC. 8a has also sent our format and qualification ideas and this is how Jerome Meyer from IFSC answered. "For example, the issues with new format, such as the duel, is that they represent a very high risk since not mastered as the current format are after so many years. Quite often in our different tests (yes we did some already) the advantages these new formats were bringing could also be attained by changing a little bit the existing format. However as said it’s still a work in progress." Here is a list of some speculations on what to expect from the Olympic race, based on the assumption that IFSC will move away from the fixed Speed route, which is the most crucial obstacle. How the format and qualification will be run in detail is of much less importance. 1. Most of the best Lead and Boulder competitors will run for the Olympics but they will be joined by very few Speed climbers. 2. Almost all of the best juniors will start competing in Combined in Youth Worlds. 3. The non-climbing media hype will start during the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in October 2018. 4. The competition scene outside Europe will grow the most. 5. By 2020, there will be 33% more walls and climbers as compared to 2015. 6. Europeans will dominate Youth Olympics in 2018. 7. Shiraishi and Ondra will get the Olympic golds. 8. There will be four set up medals in 2024.

Here is the Top-25 in the 8a Age & Gender bonus ranking. 1 000 points bonus for female, 200 per year for below 19 year olds and 100 points bonus for 40+ guys.

Stefano Ghisolfi, #4 in the Lead WC 2016, has sent his 19th route of the 9th grade. The new route is called Thunder Ribes and it's a connection of 3 previously existing routes in Arco.

Matt Fultz is knocking on the door to become a professional climber having done his first 8C in 2016.

Alex Puccio has done Manny 74 (AKA The Cuckold 8A+) in Hueco Tanks very quickly, and it seems she is almost back in full form after her spinal surgery four months ago. " I'm definitely fully recovered, but not back to full strength yet. Feel like I'm getting stronger and stronger, but it's a slow process. Not yet back to where i was before my injury, but I know I will get there! Not really sure on the grade. I know I have and can climb 8A+ in a session and it's my style boulder. It was really really hot out today so my main project had to take a back seat till we get back from the comp. I tried to look up what other people thought about this climb, but couldn't find anything. Oh well. Time for the Comp in Alabama this weekend and then back to Hueco!!!"

Mateusz Haladaj has done Seleccio Natural 9a in Santa Linya, which was his sixth route of the grade in the gigantic cave. "So happy to be back in the game after 4 months brake caused by pulley rupture. One of the best routes ever! Seems to be my anti-style as I had to struggle a lot at the upper section including falling 10 times at the last move. Considering two more holds are missing at the crux part, quite solid for the grade…"