Illya Bakhmet-Smolenskyi has done his second 9a in 2021, Hades in Nassereith. "What a nice endurance rote! Could've done it 5th go, but slipped off the wet undercling twice. Surely a classic line out there! Would still say that it's easier than the Turkish Haircut (9a) in Turkey."

What is your next plan and what about comps?
Hopefully will go to Frankenjura in the middle of September and then to Turkey for November. Going to Voronezh and then I think I'm done for the comp season.

Jon Glassberg/Louder Than 11, 8a member and 8C boulderer, Daniel Gajda/IFSC and Leo Zhukov/IFSC have been shooting and sharing superb pictures from the Olympic Games, among others. They were also kind to share some of his experiences from behind the scene. Gajda and Zhukov are in the picture.

Zhukov: "The most thrilling moment was for sure the women’s podium when the girls stood together, and then at some moment put the heads on each other shoulders and started to cry!! When speaking not about competition - there was a very cute moment, when a Taxi driver (was special taxi for media) made a present for me and Dimitris (another IFSC photographer) - a Japanese paper fan with some origami on it and good wishes. The driver had a bag full of those little gifts for her passengers. At this moment I really felt, that at least part of the people is happy about this event, and they would love to share their happiness and hospitality with all other world!

As climbing is a ‘true’ sport, it fits pretty well into Olympics. F.e. curling 🥌 doesn’t fit. To my opinion, it’s a kind of game like billiard or darts, but not an Olympic sport ))) And climbing is very well-balanced between male and female performance, comparing f.e. to BMX freestyle, where the girls are riding way lower. But in this combined format it might be hard to watch, because of the duration. So, in Paris B+L competition will go at least one hour faster, because Speed is separated."

Glassberg: ”Most thrilling moment for me behind the scene was feeling the energy from the medalists. These guys worked so hard to earn this podium spot and hanging with Nathaniel after the event, the US climbing team and just soaking in Climbing’s big moment was a dream come true.

I was shocked at how many people were there combing the event as press. I would guess there were 100 photographers from all over the world and a variety of international reputable magazine and newspapers. There were very few endemic climbing photographers so I felt lucky to be a climber documenting this moment for climbers in an authentic way for our sport.

Overall the reaction seemed to be very positive from everyone. In the end, the IFSC and IOC put the best climbers of the night on a podium and hung medals around their necks so that’s a huge win for climbing as well as the winners of the competition.”

Gajda: ” I think the most thrilling moment behind the scenes for me were just all of the emotions involved in qualifying for the final and winning a medal. Emotions were for sure high this comp! I think climbing fit into the games very well! It’s an exciting sport and it’s visually amazing to watch. I think everyone is excited to have speed be a discipline of its own next time though!

From what I saw it definitely seemed like there was a lot of buzz around climbing being in the Olympics. The IOC President came and watched the final and the amount of media there was pretty crazy!”

What are the experiences from Tokyo you will remember the most?
Well, for sure what I remember the most at the moment and what I will remember the most is disappointment. It definitely feels hard, working harder than ever, sacrificing so much and coming back home empty-handed. On the other hand, it always feels good to do your best and climb well on the comp. From this perspective, I don't think I could have done any better on this set boulders and final lead route.

The most positive experience to remember is the speed final. I had been struggling with for so many months with speed, making very little progression and unable to move my body up the speedwall in the right way. In the last two runs, it was the first time in my life when I felt I was levitating while speed climbing. It was effortless, "fast", and so easy. We were always joking that climbing a speed route sub-7 is as hard as climbing 8a on lead (for guys). I think it is actually true. And I was going crazy that after 3 years of practice, I was not 8a speed climber. On my last run of speedclimbing career, I climbed an "8a" and I am happy to quit. But to be honest, on these speed runs, I thought that speed climbing was actually fun.

How was your feeling during the 20 seconds or so you had the gold when Schubert was climbing?
I had no idea it would be gold, but I knew I would be on the podium. I knew that Jakob was super fit and I was 100% sure it would fit Jakob's style. I was pretty sure Jakob wouldn't fall lower than me, but I thought it was possible that he falls in the same move as I did and I would have won due to faster time. But Jakob was just unstoppable, incredible display of endurance and it was painful but easy to admit that Jakob was better climber that day.
(c) Petr Chodura

Charlotte Frank has done her third 8c, Battle Cat in Frankenjura. "The route is sharing its first part with Cringer (8b+), which I climbed last year. So it made sense to do the top out of Battle Cat this year. Unfortunately, the projecting process got intermitted a couple of times by heavy rainfalls.

All in all, I see this route as one of my very favourites in Frankenjura. That's among other things because of its unusual length and the delicate movements it requires. "

Vadim Timonov, Irina Kuzmenko and Sergei Skorodumov showing strong fingers doing ten hard classics in Rocklands including Sergei’s flash of Moon Shadow 8B.

Dan Mirsky has done his second 9a, Phat Club (Camp) in Rifle. "I'm proposing a name change here. Siegrist did the link-up from Fat Camp to tp Bad Girls Club and named it Phat Camp. Since Fat Camp and Phat Camp sound the same when you say them I'm calling it Phat Club instead. In any event, I think it climbs the best part of both routes, takes the straightest line and is maybe the hardest version?

It was kind of an epic process. I tried the link up a little bit in 2019 and thought I was close and was going out to try and send one day in September when I hurt my back (not on the route). That led to back surgery…. I tried it again last summer but didn’t feel quite ready in my recovery process so I put aside. This spring/ summer I felt physically capable but let it get in my head a bit and actually fell off in the final roof 7 times before I sent which was classically very anticlimactic. I finally got out of my own way and it all felt quite chill when I did it. I also just turned 39 (today in fact) so it was nice to get a win in as I am getting older, even if it was a link up🥴

Laura Rogora, who was #15 in Tokyo, is back in Italy and went directly to Grotti where she did quick work of Camo 9a. Although suffering from jet leg and a temperature of 36 degrees, the 19-year-old only needed three tries doing the first repeat of Fabrizio Peri’s very steep test piece.

“ I really missed a bit of rock. I drove 4 hours, climbed two hours, I'm tired, my skin hurts but I'm happy like this ! " More info in Italian on UP-Climbing.

Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski, who did his last 8b+ ten years ago, has done Soft Power 8b+ in Apteka.

"As for the process of my preparations, the situation is that, on the one hand, my work significantly limits the possibilities of frequent climbing, because many weekends I am busy working at the university. As the climbing season in Poland lasts about half a year there is not much time for me to work on projects :(

However, on the other hand, being a sports scientist, I have so much knowledge about training and so much knowledge of my body that I can organize my training quite precisely according to my currents needs and circumstances. Taught by last year's pandemic, this year I have; modified my home training. Last year was for me in this respect not very successful, because the lockdown limited training to hangboard overhangs. When the possibility of going out into the rocks returned, I had little feeling of my body and it took several weeks for all the motor chains to "start working". As a result, I was only able to lead a few routes with difficulty VI.5 (approx. 7c+). Admittedly, the specificity of the rocks in my country - mostly vertical slabs with small holds and slippery steps - requires strong fingers and very precise footwork.

Taught by last year's experience, the "Training season" 2020/2021 I devoted to the modification of home devices with a board with screwed on holds that I suspended under the main hangboard. It allowed me to perform reaching movements (and not only dead hangs and pull ups). Since in last year I noticed a decrease in power ouput and a rate of force develepment (which is not unusual in the the age 50 +), I focused more on these abilities. I based much of this training on principles of the so called Velocity Based Training, controlling the speed of the generated movements with linear transducer. These changes allowed resulted in the improvement of the dynamic properties of the upper body, which made it possible to deal with routes with difficulties VI.6 (8b; which in Polish limestone is not too far from the maximum difficulties) relatively quickly as for the standards of the age of 50+. I think there is one more factor, and although it is mentioned at the end, it is the most important thing in my life: the constant joy of climbing! Thanks to it, I have not even one day over thirty years of my climbing that in which I would feel that I do not want to climb. It is still the greatest adventure of my life, and when you love something, you are faithful to it."

Alex Garriga, who previously in 2021 has done four 9a+', has done Los Inconformistas 8c+ (9a) and Autoengaño 9a in Rodellar. The first took six sessions and the latter seven sessions, "Very good route with a lot of tricks". Now he has started working on one of the 9b's in the Ali Hulk cave.

Highs
1. The audience that the Olympics brought to climbing loved it, both commentators, media and spectators feedback was positive.
2. The Men's last medal being awarded to the last climber out who topped the route (Schubert), and his excitement after finding out about his podium finish (c) Jon Glassberg/Louder Than 11
3. Janja Garnbret showing a fantastic performance in Bouldering when it mattered the most.
4. The pressure of the Olympics did not take away any of the great sportsmanship and friendly collaboration between the athletes, especially on display during observation. For commentators and media, this was one of the most noticeable differences between climbing and other sports.
5. Adam Pustelnik's team set 4 amazing routes, where every participant could show their best.
6. Few ties and excitement until the end in all rounds.
7. Aleksandra Miroslaw set a new speed world record (6.87) in the most important run of the competition.
8. Commentators really followed the action and were emotionally engaged. The Eurosport commentator did an especially great job with keeping the audience informed about the possible outcomes as the competition went on
9. Excellent photography from Daniel Gajda, Leo Zhukov, Jon Glassberg and Jess Talley. Overall the IFSC provided much better photos this year than any previous season.
10. Great live score updates on Olympics.com.
11. Akiyo Noguchi ending her amazing career with a Bronze medal.

Lows
1. Bassa Mawem biceps injury and its implications
2. Slips and micro-seconds with huge implications due to multiplication format: Iuliina Kaplina slips on last foothold missing WR and the final.
Colin Duffy would probably have gotten the gold if he had not done a 0.005 false start and beaten Alberto Gines Lopez, who then would have switched the #7 position with Duffy.
Tomoa Narasaki slipped in Speed final, one hold in Lead from getting silver.
Jessica Pilz missed the silver by one hold in Lead, instead, she was #7.
While small glitches with big implications are normal in sport, the issue here was that it was often not clear to anyone what the implications were.
3. The implications of only having 7 athletes in Speed final stage were not considered prior to the event and so there were no rules for this situation. If an adjusted pairing would have been in the rules, Bassa missing finals would have made a much smaller difference.
4. One zone, three boulders only, and apparently not enough testers that are not part of the setting team: the challenge of setting great rounds in bouldering was almost impossible to overcome. Testing boulders and routes should be a fully paid task with the right people selected for the job at big events.
5. Speed specialists performance in Lead and Bouldering, with the exception of Anouck Jaubert (and maybe Bassa Mawem?)
6. TV Production not as good as for example Innsbruck or Moscow events. No live scoring and no prediction on the screen. The commentators were quite critical towards this (the production was done by one company for climbing for all countries).