Filip Schenk, who did two 8b routes in Arco some weeks ago and has no boulders recorded, won the youth B category in a superior style. First, he won both the qualification and the semi and in the final he got three tops meanwhile the rest of the finalists just managed one, all together. Staša Gejo, who did her first 8b when she was 13 years old, and who was #5 in the last Boulder WC, won in a thrilling show. Her opponent, Miho Nonaka, #3 in the Boulder WC 2015, spent all four minutes on just one problem. Results (c) Peter Thulstrup

Jongwon Chon, the winner of Boulder WC 2015, did also take the gold in the Boulder Youth Championship by doing the four problems in just six goes. Also Nicolas Pelorson neded just six goes but had one more attempt on the bonuses. The big sensation was that Nathaniel Coleman, who was #2 in the first two Boulder WCs this year, ended as #5. In the Youth male A it was equally tight in between two Japaneses and Yoshiyuki Ogata won just ahead of Kai Harada. All 12 finalists managed to do at least two boulders. Complete results

Sasha Digulianreports on Facebook that she has, together with Carlo Traversi, done the Magic Mushroom of Eiger North Face that finishes up at 3 219 meters after 21 pitches up to 7c+. (c) Carlo Denali "I've never tried harder on anything in my life. I am wrecked and can't believe it's real. 4 days 3 nights and the dream is complete! We did it!" DiGiulian and Traversi had spent three weeks projecting Paciencia (23 pitches, 8a) also on the Eiger North Face. However, continuous poor weather made them switch route and after just a quick rappel check-up of the Magic Mushroom on the 27th, they succeeded at their first attempt. Sasha had previously told 8a that she had to go back to school in the end of August so it was just one of these "final day, final go". For several years, Sasha has been one of the best female climbers in all disciplines, including competition climbing, where she was #2 respectively #8 in the Boulder and Lead World Championships in Arco 2009, being 18 years old.

Christof Rauch, who has done 100+ 8A's the last year has done his hardest yet, the FA of Nussknacker Sit which he recorded as an 8C. - Such a proud line! After more than 1h of building up a new landing yesterday and falling down on the last hard move last session, I am really happy to get this first ascent!!! Shares the first few moves of "Black Beauty" and climbs through a little transitionpart directly (without the first move) into the "Nussknacker". So it's about 8A into 8B(?). I would suggest 8B+/C. Maybe it's just a solid 8B+ but definitely the hardest thing I have climbed so far. There is just a little elimination (for me it's logical), without the holds in the slab, otherwise you could climb into the slab and shake out. Took me 7 sessions to put it together. I hope to see some repeats! ;-)

No country dominated the Boulder Youth World Championship but Japan did get one gold and three silvers. Interesting is that Austria that has been the best competition country for many years for both the seniors and the juniors got just one silver and in total three finalists. Overall, the first Boulder World Championship was a great success for both IFSC and the local organization with great thrilling events, especially in the semifinal as well as the final. With several hundreds starts doing up to 12 boulders each the number of technical incidents and yellow cards etc. was in fact lower than in the Boulder World Cups. The simplest thing to improve the competition would be to add at least one more zone hold, which would make the route setters job easier. This would also mean that not 100+ youngsters have to go back home telling their friends that they were tied dead last with no score at all. Another option could be to skip the isolation in order to avoid that some had to wait there for more than 8 hours and then not score even a zone.

You would think that the route setters should have learnt their lesson after about one third in two the youngest girl categories in Arco did not even score one zone. Out of 93 boys in A, only six managed to do more than one Top and just 32 did manage one Top. The number of boys without any score, sharing the last position, was 34. In the end, qualifications like this turn too much into random comps and, in fact, Kai Lighter, World Youth Lead Champion did not make it to the semi, being #26. In the Junior category, World Cup winner Chongwon Chon was #6 and one competitor who has done many 8A's did not even do one zone. The problem is that IFSC does not give instructions on what kind of difficulty level they want. The easiest solution for the zero scoring is of course just to have more zones. Imagine being 14-year-old, training hard for several months and then travel from the other side of the planet and score zero, after sitting up to 9 hours in the isolation. IFSC must come up with a solution for this and make sure that the Lead routes are easy enough, so that everyone will be able to climb some moves and clip at least one clip.

Dave Graham reports on Instagram that he has made the first repeat of Daniel Woods's Spray of Light 8C in Rocklands. (c) Beau Kahler SUPER SYKED!!! Finally managed to make the 2nd ascent of @dawoods89 new power test-piece Spray of Light [8c] after struggling HARD with the heat and humidity we have been dealing with over the last month!!! Every session I grew fonder of the moves and the actual climbing, and the urge to link the whole sequence began to be overwhelming, but with the uncooperative heat wave it was starting to seem like a dream, something only in my mind, not an actual real event that could exist in this time and space. Climbing is such an amazing game of belief, concentration, and execution, and I feel really lucky my life revolves around this game, it teaches one so much about life in general.

Kairn reports Seb Bouin has done the first ascent of "A muerte bilou" 9a in Ramirole cave, Verdon Gorge, France. The route, around 50 meters, is very steep : 60° overhang, with a boulder problem at the beginning followed by a knee-bar rest then a 30 meters resistance 8c. It takes him around 3 weeks of effort. A week ago he was close to send "Thors hammer" 9a+ in Flatanger before leaving but no cigar. Seb is by far the most active French climber in the rock climbing business. Photo : Pierre Délas

The semifinal boulder problems were great with almost the perfect difficulty level. The strangest thing, though, was that several youngsters brought their mobiles and were looking at them often without anybody saying anything. They could in fact have been watching the live streaming. Remember that Jakob Schubert was disqualified for checking the time once in a Lead World Cup some years ago.