Tomoa Narasaki won his seventh Boulder World Cup. The runner-up was Sorato Anraku, the overall WC winner in both Lead and Boulder in 2023. Narasaki won by flashing two boulders and all four zones meanwhile 17-year-old Anraku needed four tries for his two tops. Hannes van Duysen, who last year won the Lead Youth World Championship and took the bronze in Boulder, completed the podium. The final round was cancelled due to bad weather and the top six were also among the top eight after the qualification.

Narasaki: "I’m happy to take the win. It’s important to get focussed on the Olympic Games and it starts now with this win. I just have to continue training now for the Games." More quotes can be found on the IFSC website and here are their highlights and more.

1. Tomoa Narasaki JPN 24 (2)
2. Soratu Anraku JPN 24 (4)
3. Hannes van Duysen BEL 23 (4 & 4)
4. Toby Roberts GBR 23 (4 & 6)
5. Sam Avezou FRA 23 (5)
6. Meichi Narasaki JPN 22
Complete results

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Domen Škofic, overall Lead World Cup winner in 2016, has climbed Catxasa (9a+) in Santa Linya. "Such a brutal climb, I’m proud I’ve done it! I tried the route two years ago and almost did it without kneepads. This time I decided that I do it with kneepads since everyone is doing it that way and the grade should stand for what is the easiest way to climb it. My opinion on the grade is that it definitely makes it a bit easier with kneepads but it makes no sense for this route to be only 9a since you’re doing a hard 8c+ into another solid 8c+. The upper 8c+(Fabela) has been done with kneepads for the last 10 years and the grade still stands. I’ve done most of the routes in the cave and my opinion is to either downgrade everything or leave it as it is."

Janja Garnbret won all three rounds in Kequiao and in the final she only needed five attempts, including a foot slip on the slab, to do all four boulders and win her 16th Boulder World Cup.

“It’s the first World Cup of the season and you are always a little bit nervous because although I have been training hard over the winter you don’t really know what your competitors have been doing. I knew I was strong and I felt good, but you never know in a competition.” More quotes on IFSC website.

On a side note, none of the three highest ranked female boulderers, Natalia Grossman, Brooke Raboutou and Oriane Bertone, participated.
1. Janja Garnbret SLO 44 (5)
2. Camilla Moroni ITA 23 (10)
3. Zhilu Luo CHN 22 (2)
4. Zelia Avezou FRA 13 (5)
5. Erin Mcneice AUS 12 (1)
6. Anon Matsufuji JPN 12 (2)
Final results and a video of the final day.

Tanguy Merard, who did five 9a+’s last year, has completed Le Cadafist (9a/+) in Saint Léger, Anidalle tracteur (9a) in L'Abattoir and Amicalement blues (9a) in Saint-Pancrasse. (c) Milan Keller

”Le Cadafist was for me my return to high level outdoors after 6 months without rock and without motivation. It's a route that required a lot of mental investment from me. I almost only fell in the second part (Rêve de poutre 8c) which gave me a lot of trouble. I fell 3 times on the last move to go to the final jug then I changed method and I sent.”

What made you lose motivation?
I think it's because I climbed outside a lot until I get bored of it and suddenly I didn't want to go outside at all. I've only been climbing for a little more than 10 years so I wanted to do something else, so I did partying, routsetting and fun climbing. 4/5 sessions per week but only spraywall climbing.

Roman Alexander Hoffman sent Thermonuclear Fusion (9a+) in wedderburn in 2022. ”I often boulder by myself maybe 70% of the time. Only my wife & one good friend knew about the send of "Thermonuclear Fusion" until I published it last week.”

Can you tell us more about the boulder/route and the process behind it?
The total length of the climb is approximately 20-25 metres of climbing at 44+ moves (hands only). The total number of sessions I would estimate with trying all the variants & links, to the final hard lines would be around once a week for 6 months over 3-4 years totalling around 60-80 sessions.

Using a chalk bag is very awkward in roofs and part of the climbing is also close to the ground. I hung chalk balls in the roof at both rests which is also the only place you can freely chalk up, this worked much better.

Ben Hanna, who last week did JoeDan por Fabelita 8c+/9a, has onsighted Humildes pa Casa (8b+) in Oliana. (c) Iandzilenski.com

”Onsighting 5.14 [8b+] had always been a dream of mine. Last week I told @iandzilenski I wanted to onsight Humildes pa Casa before the trip was over, for no other reason then it was the first 5.14a I saw on the Oliana topo. Yesterday we drove to Oliana with this as a goal, but as soon as I started warming up I felt terrible and almost bailed. But we were there, and Dizzy wasn’t about to let me leave without trying. I decided to just give it the good old half ass college try.

I almost fell 3 times on the intro 5.12 and was pretty blasted by the time I got to where the route really starts, but to be perfectly honest, once I started into the tufa I forgot all about how pumped I was and what I was trying to do. I was completely lost in how epic this route is! Probably the most beautiful and enjoyable line I have ever climbed. I had a ear-to-ear, shit-eating-grin across my face the entire route.

The next thing I knew I was pulling the last meter of tufa. It wasn’t until these last couple moves to the anchor that I realized sending was possible, and the fight was on. At this point I was able to get a no hands knee-bar at the last draw which did absolutely nothing I was so pumped. I managed to pull onto the head wall but because of all the rain the last few weeks non of the holds had chalk on them and so I was fully shooting in the dark. With a little bit of luck and power screaming I’m sure all of Spain could hear I was able to pull it off.”

Eva Hammelmüller has completed La théorie des cordes (8c) in Saint Léger. ”Didn’t think it possible to do the first crux with wet holds, but tinfoil works wonders ;) Really good line with hard moves in the first part and delicate slab climbing in the second part.” (c) Felix Mast

Can you tell us more about your tinfoil trick?
I have never used tinfoil before to climb a wet route, but the tufa in the lower crux of ‘La théorie des cordes’, was so drenched that we couldn’t dry it with tissues… Grabbing the hold worked surprisingly well because even though the friction is bad, your hand stays dry; however, heel-hooking on tinfoil is something you really have to get used to😅 Anyway, the weather on this short trip was definitely not on our side - the biggest challenge was finding dry routes.

Cody Roth, who at age 19 made it to a WC final and last year did three routes graded 8c+/9a to 9a, has set a new onsight personal best with I Sorci Verdi 8b/8b+ at Grotti. Earlier the same day, the 40-year-old also onsighted Progetto Ciato (8b).

How has your onsight approach changed over time?
I've always enjoyed onsight climbing. I think up until the age of 30, my onsight try was probably better than my second try on climbs I didn't onsight around 80% of the time (when I'm really going for it on an onsight, I kind of blackout). Since turning 30 I've been able to improve my second-try performance a little, but in 30 years of climbing, my approach to onsight climbing hasn't changed much. I went for it on this 8b/8b+ the same way I went for it on my first 7a onsight, which was also my second lead climb ever, back when I was eleven. Twenty years ago, I onsighted my first 8b, Fuego, at Massone. That day, I'd already done a 7c+ multi-pitch with one of my best friends, Much Mayr. We'd already had a celebratory beer, and I didn't have any expectations when I set off. It was completely unexpected. However, from that point forward, for a long time, I do remember feeling extra performance anxiety and nervousness, especially at the thought of trying to do 8b+ onsight, and I backed off onsighting a little bit. Where I'm at now, at 40, I feel more like I felt at 11. I just want to step up and try, the same way a good penalty taker wants to take the ball and place it at 11m when the opportunity arises. I'm less worried about failing or looking weak, or any other silly insecurities I wasted time worrying about when I was younger and felt the fear of expectation and judgement.

Why do you think the general onsight level has not picked up as fast as the redpoint level over the last decade?
To start with, redpoint climbing is more available and trainable, and it will always have a bigger number attached to it, so by default, it maybe always feels like more of an achievement. Additionally, even though lead comps are onsight, I would dare to say that they've diverged enough from what you find often on rock, that being a good onsight climber on rock isn't a prerequisite to being a good lead competitor. I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but it seems like there's less direct correlation compared to when I was competing in the early 2000s. Onsight climbing with its one-shot nature is also more mentally and emotionally draining. It's pretty unforgiving when you think about it. You have to be pretty comfortable with failing and the way our world is trending, maybe it's harder to be patient and to feel that freedom to fail and to have comfort and trust in yourself. I think a big part of why Adam Ondra is the best onsight climber in the world, besides being highly intelligent and talented, is because he's so comfortable being in his own skin. I really give him credit for that.