The first European Youth Cup in Speed 2016 took place in Poland and only five nationas competed; Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Ukraine and one guy from Austria. In the oldest female category, only three Italian girls competed. Complete results. Is it not strange that IFSC keep focusing on Speed events including promoting it for the Olympics when there are so few interested? In 2016, IFSC organize just one Euro Youth Cup in Lead but two in Speed.

Laura Rogora, who just did her first 9a, has onsighted Batuka 8b in Margalef and she put up all the draws by herself. Batuka has been recorded 57 times in the data base, all with 8b and only two guys have onsighted it before. - The route is divided in two sections with a very good rest in the middle. The first four bolt are hard and I thought to fall every move. The second part is easier but there is another hard move. Today was the first day of the trip. In this week I would like to visit new crags: Santa Linya, Rodellar... Today the 14-year-old onsighted Codigo Norte, an 8b in Santa Linya. "I'm staying here just for one week so I think I will climb only onsight."

Anak Verhoeven, #4 in the Lead World Cup 2015, has done the FFA of Bronx 8c+ in Orgon from 1994 and she did it on her third try. In the video, there is also her 8c+ FA of Ma belle ma muse in Romeyers included, which took her just four sessions. (c) Sébastien Richard - When the 2015 season was over I first took some weeks of rest. Then I progressively started training again, but I have done no specific training for the routes I have climbed in France. My trainings have been quite similar as the years before with mainly both resistance and power training. I probably did a little more finger training and I also checked out Redcord training in order to prevent injuries. What was different though, is that in the beginning of the trip I consciously decided not to let a certain route dominate me. I was aware of the way in which a project can take control over a climber during the time he is attempting and I didn't want to let that happen. Because of that, the project felt more like a challenge instead of a constant pressure. My plan for the next months is to continue training indoors for next season and my goal is to win international adult competitions. More info on her website - Anak Verhoeven Climbing for Jesus

In many sports, as well as in Lead Climbing, there are 8 finalist but in Bouldering there are only 6. The main reason for this is time. With the current format two more finalist would lenghten the overall time from some 2 hours with another 30+ minutes, which obviously is too much. So what about starting parallel with 4+4 finalist who rotate with 15 minutes of rest, add a fifth super final problem and a coffee break problem, and still in do it in 2 hours? It could look as below: 1. Top-4 ranked male or female start: Min 0 - 10 2. Ranked 5 - 8 male or female follow: Min 10 - 20 3. Boulder umber #2 for both male/female: Min 20 - 40 4. Boulder #3 for both male/female: Min 40 - 60 5. Boulder #4 for both male/female: Min 60 - 80 6. 20 min extra rest and analyses: Min 80 - 100 7. Super final for Top-4 on a fifth boulder: Min 100 - 120 The format can be either IFSC with reversed starting order or as it is done in Arco, counting all five boulders.

Since the Boulder World Championship in 2007, when we got the first upside-down final result in comparison with the semifinal starting order, I have been addressing the problem. In fact, it has been like this for all the following four World Championships and the 2016 circuit started out in the same way. One possible explanation for this, beside increased pressure for the one who is starting last and worse friction, could be the fact that the early starters often get more valuable resting time. Let us say that nobody does the first boulder but all the competitors do the second one. In this case, the first guy out will have some 24 minutes of rest after that first hard boulder before trying the second one. At the same time, the last one out will probably have just some 12 minutes of resting time. It is clearly a big disadvantage for the winner of the semifinal. If it is the other way around, easy first problem and then a super hard second Boulder, the first guy out will probably have just about 12 minutes rest before starting the second problem. At the same time, the last guy out will have some 24 minutes of rest. Clearly, there is an advantage but as the both guys did not spend that much energy working the first problem for the full 4+ minutes, the resting time is not that important. It would be hard work, but with the final videos available, possibly there could be made a study showing that there is a correlation between who gets the most valuable resting time and who wins.

Piotr Schab has repeated Chris Sharma's Papichulo 9a+ in Oliana, which has been given three stars in our database by all eight guys who have done it. "A perfect route - gonna miss it for sure ! Amazing challenge, life is beautiful!!" The Pole did his first 9a, Era Vella, when he was 15 years old and has had a steady progress since. Papichulo, with a dozen of ascents, is probably one of the most repeated 9a+'s in the world. (c) Wojtek Kozakiewicz.

Felipe Camargo and Alex Honnold have done the first repeat of Dani Andrada's amazing eight pitches in Getu Valley; 8a+, 8b, 7c+, 7a, 8b+, 8c, 7c+, 8a+. (c) Jimmy Chin - We worked on it for five days, cleaning the route cause it was really dirty and figuring out the moves and just working on the pitches. Later we did it on our first respectively serious push from the ground. Best thing I've ever climbed in my life! A real gem from Dani Andrada! Incredible effort and vision bolting this thing!

As we are finalizing the new scorecard pages some members report that they have had log-in problems. We are working on it just now. If you still have problems on Monday, send an email to [email protected] and we will send you a new password.

Last week we reported that Drew Ruana started his trip in Red River Gorge by doing one 8c+ and an 8c. During the last three days he was in an onsight mode, which he proved with five 8a+ to 8b+ onsights, including Omaha Beach. Furthermore, the 16-year-old has also done Lucifer 8c+ in just four tries.