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).

Staša Gejo, bronze in the World Championship in 2018, has during a three weeks trip to Rocklands done five boulders 8A to 8B, including three possible First Female Ascents. There is a video coming out soon. (c) Matthias Woidneck

The Arch 8B: "Soft, took me only 2 sessions, but very very beautiful! I like lowballs, what can I say..." Mooiste Meisie 8B: "5 sessions. Nice block, perfect line, but the amount of toe hooks reduces the rating... Drove me crazy, doing all these similar moves from the bottom to the crux... Almost gave up on it after 3 sessions, the toughest mental battle I had with a boulder. Maybe FFA?"
Shosholoza 8A+: "The best boulder in the whole world! 2 sessions. Also, FFA?"
Oral Office 8A+: "Mega jump, loved trying it! 2 sessions."
Pendragon 8A: "Such a waste of time. Dabbed a million times. Nice holds."

What did you think about the Olympics and the bouldering in particular?
Sad I didn't make it there. Looked magnificent. Less fortunate for some athletes due to shortcomings of the combined format, but fairly exciting to follow. Setters need better testers, especially for the female category. There has to be a fresh person who is capable of actually climbing the boulders, and that is on the level of the competing climbers. There should be a female who is well trained. Otherwise, it will always be messy.

Alberto Gines Lopez did participate in 16 IFSC comps in 2021 as a preparation for the Olympics in Tokyo. The runner-up, out of all other 39 Olympians, did just do half as many. In the last World Cup, prior to the Games in Briancon 18/7, the Spaniard was #7 and the only Olympian participating! (c) Daniel Gajda/IFSC

His first IFSC comp in 2021 was the Euro Bouldering Cup in Klagenfurt 11/4 where he was #27. The following weekend he was #73 in the Meiringen Boulder WC. Two weeks later he was in Russia for the Euro Junior Championship and his results were again not that good; #4 in Lead, #8 in Speed and #12 in Lead. Then he stepped up winning three out of five Euro Youth Cups.

Back on the World Cup circuit, he skipped Salt Lake City, and was 41 - 5 - 5 - 31 - 5 and then 7 in Briancon. (Most of the best did not participate in these World Cups.) Even if Alberto had had relatively poor results in the comps 2021, I placed him as #5 in the 8a qualification prediction. The reason for this was that I agreed on such a competition focus prior to the Olympics.

In the Olympic qualifications, the 18-year-old started by being #7 in Speed and #14 in Bouldering and things did not look great for making the finals. The pressure was on and then he pulled out his best Lead performance of 2021 and was #3 in Lead. Before the final, I once again lifted Alberto and said that he would get the bronze if he won over Colin Duffy in Speed.

In the final, Duffy started out by doing a 0.005 false start. Then Alberto beat Adam Ondra in the semi and later Tomoa Narasaki slipped in the Speed final. In Bouldering he was #7 and then #4 in Lead and he was the winner of the first-ever Olympic climbing gold.

It should be mentioned that until 2019, he had won eleven Euro Youth Cups including two Euro Championships. In 2019, at age 16, he was #2 in the World Cups after three podiums. Out on the rock, he has made 8a headlines since he did his first 8c (+) being 13-years-old!

"In 2018, Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher managed to claim the coveted second ascent of the wall’s most difficult route—Odyssee (8a+). Fighting with loose, wet rock and unstable weather conditions, they spent four days living on the wall in order to reach the summit. This past August, they returned to the wall in an attempt to re-climb Odyssee in less than a day and write their names into the “Nordwand’s” history book forever. "

Sport Climbing did get some coverage also in general media and some were critical towards the multiplication maths. The headline of The Guardian goes, "Climbing is a hit at the Tokyo Olympics – but does it reward the best athletes?" Later on, one paragraph begins with, "Instead, in a method only a maths teacher could love..."

The headline of NY Times goes, "In Climbing, Finding a Way Up Is Just One of the Calculations" In fact, a big portion of the article goes on like this, "None of the climbers liked that three distinct climbing disciplines — speed, bouldering and lead climbing — were mashed together into one medal event. What they may not have anticipated was the chaos it created in the final moments of competition."

As you probably might know, I have also been critical and I do not think there is any other sport with even a similar multiplication format. Luckily, I have not seen any media found or have been talking about that if not Colin Duffy started off his Olympic career by doing a 0.005 seconds false start, and instead had beaten Alberto Ginés López, the 18-year-old Spaniard would have switched his gold for being #7 and being last in the final. Then 17-year-old Duffy would probably have won the gold, instead of being #7!

Slovenia dominated the Euro Youth Cup in Slovakia with four golds and another five Top-4 positions. Most of the countries in the western Europe did not participate or did just send small teams.
02: Giorgio Tomatis ITA - Lucija Tarkus SLO
04: Timotej Romsak SLO - Sara Copar SLO
06: Gorazd Jurekovic SLO- Barbora Bernadora CHE

The European Bouldering Cup in Krakow took place this weekend. Mathieu Ternant from France was #16 in qualis but then he won both the semi and final. Anna Lechner from Germany started out by just making semi as #19 in the qualis and then #5 in the semi before she won the final. Overall, France dominated as they also got one silver among the female, Fanny Gibert, as well as four more Top-11 positions. Complete results

Almost 2 000 8a members participated in the 2020 Tokyo prediction. Klaus Wiele won getting 1 000 points, by having five out of six correct answers in the Quiz as well as getting all Top-5 women exactly right and he wins The Surprise Five Ten Athlete Package. Runner-ups with 900 points were Johannes Kohtz and Moritz Welt (who just did an 8c+ in Flatanger). The third position was tied among nine persons. Here you find the complete ranking.

Everyone participating will get awarded a 1-month Vertical-Life premium Voucher. There are also 5 Hiangle Pro packages, including shoes and 150 Euros Voucher, as well as 4 * 150 Vouchers from Adidas, at stake in a raffle "Each answer and rank you predicted correctly will earn you 100 points and one ticket toward the raffle."