Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi arrived to Podzamcze some two weeks ago with a personal best of 8b. There he first did an 8b+ and yesterday he stepped up by doing Pijane trójkąty 8c. - I found a best place for me to climb. Almost every crag, rock and route are mostly vertical, with small holds and balancy moves, that's my favorite style of climbing. But even when the rock is like my style it is still very hard to send this line. It is long, pumpy and has three cruxes all over the line, so I did maximum two tries a day. At first two days I did only one try though. His mother, Ann, explains that Illya started climbing some four years ago but he has never had any trainers beside his parents, who climb in the 6th grade. Most of the times, Illya climbs outdoor as his parents normally work with IT and travel abroad. In 2014, he won Arco Rock Junior being 9 years old, when he also did his first 8a+.

The video starts with the amazing Speed final where 166 cm Marcin Dzienski beats 190 cm tall Danyil Boldyrev with 5 split seconds. Check those feet!

Fanatic Climbing reports that Seb Bouin has done the FA of L'homme demain 9a/+ in Verdon, meaning that he has done 27 routes graded 9a to 9b. "The route was bolted by Antonin Rhodes. It's the hardest route of the crag, which now hosts four 9th-grade challenges. The route is 50 meters long, a stamina monster that Seb describes as an 8c+ followed by an 8c in the steepest part of the wall." Photo : Jan Novak Photography

Anak Verhoeven and Romain Desgranges were the only two who topped out the semifinal and so they started last in the final, they really pleased the crowd. Anak topped out her fourth straight route in Arco and Romain tied Jakob Schubert's result, winning after the countback. The previous superior leaders overall, Janja Garnbret and Domen Skofic were #3 and #4 meaning that the leader board was tightened up. Adam Ondra did his first WC in 2016 and he said he needed to adopt to plastic again. In three weeks, the World Championship in Paris starts. (c) More great pics from Eddie Fowke. 1. Romain Desgranges 44+ : Anak Verhoeven Top 2. Jakob Schubert 44 + : Jain Kim 49+ 3. Dimitrii Fakiryanov 42 : Janja Garnbret 29+ 4. Domen Skofic 39+ : Methilde Becerra 29 5. Adam Ondra 39+ : Mina Markovic 27 Complete results

Planet Mountain reports that Adam Ondra and Katharina Saurwein won the Arco KO Boulder contest. Actually, Katha had the best result on all four problems meanwhile Adam only won on the final Boulder. Runner-ups were Jan Hojer and Giorgia Tesio followed by Jeremy Bonder and Stasa Gejo. (c) Giulio Malfer

Planet Mountain reports that Adam Ondra and Janja Garnbret won the 30th edition of the Arco Rock Master, which was held in a Duel format. Climbers climb on the same route competing one against the other.

Alex Megos continues his rampage in Canada and does Chris Sharma's Dreamcatcher 9a in just one day, video, and he comments on Facebook. "This was the only route I knew when I came to Canada! And today I grabbed the 4th ascent of it in one day! "Deamcatcher" 5.14d (9a)!!! Super stoked to have climbed this world class route! One of the best of all time!" (c) Ken Etzel

Planet Mountain reports that Dani Andrada won the Salewa Rock Award and Mina Markovic won the La Sportiva Competition Award in the Arco Legends of fame. (c) Giulio Malfer Dani Andrada (41) is the legend that has bolted most hard core routes in the world and it is mainly thanks to him that the crags around Lleida have been the hardcore epicentrum of the world. Previously and since 2006, the Awards have been given based on the last year performances but clearly, they changed it in order to not give Adam Ondra his fifth award. The Czech has done many more hard routes compared to Andrada as well as bolting at least last year.

In contrast to Imst last weekend with only two double tops in the qualifications, nine male and seven female topped both routes in Arco, including Adam Ondra who did his debut in the WC 2016. Here is a video from Arco where he talks about what he has been up to lately. Qualification results. The only two top climbers who also go for the Speed, Charlotte Durif and David Firnenburg, qualified as #23 and #30 respectively. Charlotte had also the best result being #24 out of 29 in the Speed with 10.54. Live-streaming of the Semi starts at 12. The Speed final starts at 18.15 and the Lead Final 20.00.

Jan Vopat has onsighted Mal Amores and Montserrat, both 8a+, in Rodellar, meaning that during the last two weeks the 13-year-old has onsighted six routes graded 8a to 8b. In the 8a ranking game, The Czech is #1 among the 14-year-olds and #13 in the overall junior ranking.