[Muenchener]

I looked at W1 and thought „excellent: parkour-free rat crimps“. But then it turned out to be just not hard enough

[Durbs]

Slightly off-topic, but can you imagine the pant-wetting pressure of the route-setters for the Olympics?
The world watching, show-case sport, and if they have an all-flashed, or no-top scenario in the final... Eeek.

Rather them than me!

There does seem to be much less parkour, much more "climbing" of late which is interesting to see. Also insane to see just how bad a minging crimp can be and yet still be too easy.

Also mildly OT - I wonder how well Janja would do on the Men's routes, are they that much harder?

[Pope B]

Jam Crack had an episode with Eddie Fowke (he does photos or something for IFSC comps? He knows a lot about comps & the Olympics, etc.) where they talk about the Olympics, Janja, etc.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0kMnHpFJfGEil8xVUF1ams

Anyway, he reckoned that Janja would be able to get a podium place in the mens comps. I think she has pushed to have harder routes for the women at comps. He also thought that when she starts properly trying on rock she could really push standards.

[Durbs]

Great listen - thanks!

[Coops_13]

Sorry if I've missed this but are there fewer world cups this year than previous? Is it something to do with Olympic qualification?

EDIT: Bouldering I mean, of course...

[Fiend]

I don't think so, I think last year they had a World Championship round too (bi-annual) so that was an extra comp.

Last weeks was another good one! Problem balance getting better and some great moves and tension as usual. I did notice that some of the brushers' brushes-on-a-stick were pretty rubbish at getting into the back of slopers....

[Duma]

6 Slovenian women and 3 Slovenian men through to semis.

Population 2 million.

I mean, the Japanese dominating, fair enough, but the Slovenians!

Brits wise, best qualis this season? Certainly best without shauna

[GraemeA]

Sorry if I've missed this but are there fewer world cups this year than previous? Is it something to do with Olympic qualification?

EDIT: Bouldering I mean, of course...

As of this year there is a max of 6 WC's in any discipline.

[finbarrr]

Women’s Semi finals

 

 

Don’t want to spoil it by giving the results.

So that’s what happens when they set a hard round.

Next level..

[Duma]

Hshahaha!

[finbarrr]

Women’s Semi finals

 

 

Don’t want to spoil it by giving the results.

So that’s what happens when they set a hard round.

Next level..

Just saw I made a mistake in the emojis, wanted to post:
 
 
 

[Johnny Brown]

6 Slovenian women and 3 Slovenian men through to semis.

Population 2 million.

I mean, the Japanese dominating, fair enough, but the Slovenians!

Climbing is the national sport in Slovenia. Every school has a climbing wall.

[Fiend]

I dunno Finbarr I quite liked your original smiley selection.

I agree entirely. I thought Boscoe's Real Talk about the situation was unusually profound and thoughtful, although personally as a spectator I would prefer it differently and would get much more entertainment throughout the round with an "easier" set and more incremental / varied progress from the women, even if it diluted the brief spectacle that was in this round.

[finbarrr]

I dunno Finbarr I quite liked your original smiley selection.

I agree entirely. I thought Boscoe's Real Talk about the situation was unusually profound and thoughtful, although personally as a spectator I would prefer it differently and would get much more entertainment throughout the round with an "easier" set and more incremental / varied progress from the women, even if it diluted the brief spectacle that was in this round.

i don't know if i heard the "real talk".
watched the whole semi's.
then the men's finals.
then couldn't be bothered with the women', just skipped through to Janja's attempts when it had all finished.

i think the setting for the final as a spectator sport was really good.
but after seeing the semi's, i just realised how far ahead Janja is.
and that most of the finals this year have been similar.
the finals seemed close, because the scorecards may have seemed close, because the boulders were not hard enough to show the difference.
WHEN  Miho and Shauna are fit, they can give Janja a bit of competition on power boulders.
but they were absent this comp

also with the separation of men and women in finals, a hard final round is the worst.
i wish they would let them climb simultaneously again.

years ago, when it seemed they filmed the finals with one camera, it would have made sense to split the finals.
now that there is are multiple cameras and actual editing and instant replay it seems unnecessary .
  3+ hours is too long (if one has already watched 2+ hours of semi's  )

[Fiend]

Mens finals were great, some really characterful boulders and lots of exciting moments. Ondra on M1 was so exciting it got an instant rewind in Chez Fiend. Pity he didn't spot the trick on M4, you could see he was kicking himself in the group chat after.

Question of the day: Jan on M1 with the bleeding knee. If he had not taped his knee, tried again, but not used the kneebar so there was no danger of bleeding on the hold, would he be allowed to continue?? Surely there is a grey area as to where bleeding injuries can be and not require taping (I dunno like a grazed ear or something)??

Watching Fs later.

[Fiend]

Fs was good too, despite forgone conclusion. Not quite as good balance, W4 should have been harder, but cool climbing. Krampl's tenacity was a good story.

Next question: What on Earth happened with Alexey?? Has he got a life guru coach as well as a trainer?? The odd wry grin I'd expect but from constant grump to constant grinning is a bit weird....

[Steve R]

Next question: What on Earth happened with Alexey?? Has he got a life guru coach as well as a trainer?? The odd wry grin I'd expect but from constant grump to constant grinning is a bit weird....

lol, reminded me of this:

[jwi]

Here's a spreadsheet for the men - same arbitrary critera of having a name that I recognised as placing in the top 20 at an international lead or boulder comp, no doubt lots of worthy people missing and errors.

Lots of people setting PBs in Moscow, at least according to the spreadsheet.

According to Bjorn Pohl's instagram Tomoa recorded a time of 6.291s in the speed yesterday in the combined japan cup. I checked on their webpage https://www.jma-climbing.org/competition/archive/detail/Conbined-Japan-Cup-2019/ but no results are up yet. (With reservation for my rapidly vanishing Japanese)

[duncan]

Really enjoyed the Vail event, slightly connected to having driven past the place recently (the commentary glossed-over the motorway this upscale ski resort is built next to), but the setting was generally pretty good and both competitions went down to the final problem. The mens winner’s performance on the deciding problem was something else. He looked suitably chuffed.  Great setting here: a style of move I’m very familiar with, just a brutally powerful version.

[teestub]

Agreed, always really enjoy the Vail round, setting is always a little different and the competitors generally seem to be having a good time.

[jwi]

Amazing comp. Janja Ganbret is really the number one star on the entire circuit. No doubt.

I was particularly interested in seeing how well Luce Douady would do among the seniors, as I've heard she's a monster but I've never seen her compete. Very impressive debut.

Tomoa Narasaki's overall win was impressive as well, he's faster than anyone who's not a speed specialist, even faster then Mickael Mawem I believe. For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.

[GraemeA]

Tomoa Narasaki's overall win was impressive as well, he's faster than anyone who's not a speed specialist, even faster then Mickael Mawem I believe. For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.

The previous Japanese speed record was set by Yoshiyuki at the au Speed Stars in Akishima, Japan in mid May. And of course Yoshijuki beat Tomoa in Vail. It was Yoshiyuki's first win so it will be interesting to see if he can maintain the level or if it was a one off.

In Lead they are fairly similar, both have been to a few semi final although of course Tomoa did come 3rd in Villars.

Manu Cornu is another potential, won a BWC this year, I think he is French Lead champion and has gone under 6.7 in a SWC.

I can't wait for the Lead comps to start so we can start to see the Overall Standings starting to appear.

[Fiend]

For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.

Dire  .

Vail was great. Usual impressive problems, good co-commentary, and some thrills and spills. A fitting end to an entertaining season.

This week's question: I thought to get the bonus, the climber had to be in control touching it, but the commentary was saying the climber had to use it to do some sort of movement - has that changed??

[GraemeA]

For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.

Dire  .

Vail was great. Usual impressive problems, good co-commentary, and some thrills and spills. A fitting end to an entertaining season.

This week's question: I thought to get the bonus, the climber had to be in control touching it, but the commentary was saying the climber had to use it to do some sort of movement - has that changed??

Control has never meant just touching. My definition is if I can see some other movement eg a foot or even tensing of muscles. It is not an objective measurement so there will always be differences of opinion.

[GraemeA]

For the olympics, a win in speed, a win in bouldering and tenth place out of twenty in lead (1*1*10 = 10) would make it very difficult for the winner of lead (Ondra) to win overall even if they would come second in bouldering (1*2*5 = 10) as it would require to come forth or better in speed.

Dire  .

That seems inconsistent, I am sure that you would have argued that a 1st in Boulder and a 1st in Lead should be enough to win the gold so why is it shit if it flips around so that a 1st in Speed and a 1st in Boulder should be enough to win gold. Or are you an Adam groupie :-)