Molly Thompson Smith has had a couple of successful months in the Frankenjura. She left the UK straight after the CWIF competition to train with her partner, Jan Hojer. Lockdown ended earlier in Germany and Molly was able to retain her form from earlier in the year, ticking several hard 'Jura classics.

Another lifetime ago in February, Molly climbed Via del Quim (8b+) (8b+) in Margalef, needing only one redpoint attempt. Fast forward a few months and Molly was back to her best, ticking climbs such as Roof Warrior (8c), Intercooler (8c), New Orleans Heavyweight Division (8c), Smith & Wesson (8b+) and Queeeel dich, du Sau (8b+). She also climbed a couple of 8b's – Akira and Plan B – on her second attempt.

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Short routes for a short lil lady😜🙆🏽‍♀️ . Had a great few days in the Frankenjura again🍃 But with only 2 more days till we leave, I was happy to get up 'Intercooler' (8c) today😊 . Not the prettiest, but I enjoyed how specific the holds and moves on this little bouldery route were!🤓 . Swipe ⬅️ for a vid - this was probably the worst go I had, but sometimes trying hard is enough!😂 . #climbing #rockclimbing #frankenjura #gymshark #skyscholarships #phdnutrition #petzlgram #scarpa_uk

A post shared by Molly Thompson-Smith (@mollyts123) on Jun 29, 2020 at 12:22pm PDT

As an Olympic athlete, Jan was able to access training facilities in Germany throughout their lockdown and fortunately, Molly was able to join. She told UKC:

'As soon as we could, we headed to the Frankenjura and I just loved it immediately! This was surprising as I never thought I'd be able to climb here on the pockets and monos after my finger surgery!'

Molly had surgery on her finger back in 2018, which caused her issues for a while afterwards. She followed a strict fingerboard rehab plan and followed very controlled training sessions. It was only after the trip to Margalef where she redpointed Via del Quim that the pain started to go away. At the time she said:

'I've tried all sorts of things to make the pain go away. To my surprise (and delight!), what I thought was almost an old wives tale of sport climbing on rock being therapeutic for fingers was no joke, and within two days of touching Spanish rock my pain disappeared.'

The Frankenjura is a huge climbing area and having never climbed there before, Molly had her pick of the routes:

'I could choose to climb 5-star lines every day! A highlight would be climbing Intercooler (8c) because it's probably the longest project I've ever had (3 sessions) & in the first session I hurt my forearm on it, meaning I had to rest for 10 days afterwards & couldn't try it for very long in the following sessions. But I am mostly happy with how much more comfortable I feel on rock, and excited to try something a bit harder maybe!'

Below is a video of Molly climbing New Orleans Heavyweight Division (8c) in less than ideal conditions:

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Psyched with a quick tick of 'New Orleans Heavyweight Division' (8c) this afternoon even though the conditions were less than desirable😂 . I'm donating 50% of the send to @janhojer for the belays & anti grump pep talks & 20% to @waterhouseclimb for the send footy and constant positivity💫😂 . #gymshark #rockclimbing #climbing #petzlgram #scarpa_uk

A post shared by Molly Thompson-Smith (@mollyts123) on Jul 8, 2020 at 10:57am PDT

Jan had a productive few months after the lockdown in Germany ended. In the first two weeks, he climbed eleven 8c's. At the start of July, he went on another rampage and climbed three 8c+'s and an 8c in the space of a few days. It'll certainly be interesting to watch him in Tokyo 2021.

We updated this article on 09/07/2020 because soon after it was published, Molly climbed another 8c: New Orleans Heavyweight Division.