Dave Graham, one of the very best rock climbers in the world of the last 15 years, reports on Facebook that he has done Monkey Wedding 8C in Rocklands. Here we present the beginning of the story. - Last weekend I finished off one of my ultimate-global-nemisis-projects, the legendary @fred_nicole problem Monkey Wedding [8C] which chills in the center of one of Rockland's most popular sectors. Last season I tried the boulder quite a lot, for at least 12 days, but could never seem to improve my highpoint, or do better than one hang the beast, which is only ten moves long. This year I returned partially uncertain of whether or not I could even summit this small peak, my confidence dashed by last years failure. Right off the bench I discovered more intelligent beta, resequencing my old crux, and matched my previous links. Sadly the war continued for another 6 days. I was confused by the conditions, normally cold weather is my jam, but my cursed sweaty fingers never seemed to stop sweating while I sat at basecamp, about two meters from the start of the rig, amidst all types of cold blustery weather, but it was always smarmy and humid somehow. One day, my window presented itself; super hot and a northerly wind, directly from the dry deserts of Africa, I felt something, potentially like an opportunity.

Jonathan Hörst - First Ascent of "Valkyrie" ~5.14a from Training4Climbing on Vimeo.

If Alexey Rubtsov wins the final in Munich, he will get 407 points at the same time as Tomoa Narasaki will reach 409 if he is last and #6 in the final. Kokoro Fujii was #8 in the semifinal so he has ended up at 395 points, meaning that he will be #2 overall if Alexey does not win. It is noteworthy that the 20-year-old was #30 in the Boulder World Cup 2015. I It is also interesting that from the semifinal France had four guys in Top-10. Complete results (c) Eddie Fowke Among the female, Shauna Coxsey had already secured the overall title before Munich, where she was #2 in the semifinal. Melissa Le Neve has a chance of being #2 overall if she wins and Miho Nonaka is #3 or worse. Live streaming of the final starts at 18.30.

Tomoa Narasaki won the seventh and last stage of the Boulder World Cup and, in fact, his worst result during the five last World Cups is #2 place. Last year, the 20 year old Japanese was #30 and he started out 2016 being #18 and #15. 1. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 465 - Shauna Coxsey GBR 560 2. Kokoro Fujii JPN 395 - Miho Nonaka JPN 460 3. Alexey Rubtsov RUS 372 - Melissa Le Neve FRA 368 4. Jongwon Chon KOR 342 - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 352 5. Rustam Gelmanov RUS 270 - Monika Retschy GER 236 Shauna Coxsey's worst result out of six events was #2. Last four years she has been 2 - 2 - 4 - 3.

1. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 4t6 4b5 - Miho Nonaka JPN 3t7 4b8 2. Jongwon Chon KOR 3t5 3b3 - Shauna Coxsey GBR 2t2 3b3 3. Alexey Rubtsov RUS 2t2 3b8 - Akiyo Noguchi JPN 2t2 3b3 Complete results

A record number of 241 athletes are scheduled to compete in the seventh and last stage of the Boulder World Cup 2016, which can be compared with 210 last year. By checking the overall standings, not counting the worst result, we already now that Shauna Coxsey has secured the overall title. Among the male, Alexey can still win if he wins the last event, Narasaki is #7 or worse and and Fujii is #5 or worse. 1. Shauna Coxsey 480 GBR - Tomoa Narasaki 362 JPN 2. Miho Nonaka 346 JPN - Kokoro Fujii 355 JPN 3. Melissa Le Neve 313 FRA - Alexey Rubtsov 307 RUS 4. Akiyo Noguchi 259 JPN - Rustam Gelmanov 267 RUS 5. Monika Retschy 229 GER - Jongwon Chon 264 KOR

From the qualification we can see that Alban Levier, Alexey Rubtsov, Shauna Coxsey, Melissa Le Neve, Evgeniya Lapshina, Clementine Kaiser and Miho Nonaka onsighted all five problems. Some high ranked, such as Monika Retschy, Tsukuru Hori, Jan Hojer and Rustam Gelmanov, failed to qualify to the Top-20. (c) Eddie Fowke The record number of participants made the male isolation open at 6.30 and close at 7.30. The first guy out started at 8.00 meanwhile the last one out had to spend more than six hours in iso before competing. Live streaming starts at 11.30 GMT+2. The finals start at 18.30.

Jan hojer and Michaela Kiersch have won the 2016 Psiobloc masters, where 16 male and female battled head to head. In fact, both Jan and Michaela won first the qualification and then took down all opponents on the 8a respectively 8b routes and in the final; it was like two photo finishes on the 17 meter wall. It is interesting that Jan was #2 in the Boulder World Cup last year and the runner-up, Nathaniel Coleman, was #4. Michaela did an 8b+ on her second go just few days after her victory. In the 4 hours video there were also some Olympic discussions. (c) Steve Rokks

After talking to some of the best Speed climbers in the world, you understand that these guys are real professionals and dedicated athletes. Running up 15 meters sub 6 seconds cannot be reached in 2020 for the current best Lead and Boulder World Cup climbers. Most of top male Lead or Boulder World Cup competitors will probably reach 10 seconds after some weeks starting to get the sequence right. Without any specifically explosive or lower body training, the most talented will go sub 9 seconds once the sequence has been optimized to perfection. Sean McColl, who has continuously competed in Speed for some 15 years, including gaining gold in Youth World Championship, is normally doing mid eight seconds. The Canadian can also be said to have a similar physics to the best Speed climbers. In order to go below eight seconds, you probably need to do specific physical training for a year and also do many competitions, which would get you to understanding how to deal with the mental pressure. To get below 7 seconds in Tokyo 2020 you need to focus half of your training on Speed as well as gaining some weight in the whole body. Thus you will also have to deal with the mental pressure that your standard in Lead and Boulder will deteriorate and you will have to climb outdoors less. To get below 6.5 seconds will only be possible for the very talented ones who would mainly focus on Speed until Tokyo. This means that you will go at least 10 000 times full on, on the 15 meters 6a+ Speed wall. It should be added that Libor Hroza, currently #2 in the Speed World Cup, after reading the draft of the article, said: - It looks good. I totally agree with climbing less outdoor, for those who will go to Olympics there won't be too much time for rocks. Rocks will be just an award when season is done. You have to look at climbing in the Olympics as a competitive sport, without typical lifestyle climbing thinking. The sport is way too far from rock climbing and it will go even further because of the Olympics.

Laura Rogora, who did her first 9a this spring being 14 years old, has done a fast ascent of the classic Wallstreet 8c in Frankenjura. As a preparation, she competed in the European Bouldering Championship last weekend and was #2. - I can't believe it!!!! On my second day here Frankenjura, despite the rain, I was able to send my little project: Wallstreet 8c in only 6 tries. Climbing this historical and beautiful line was amazing!