I’m very lucky to get to watch Ai Mori climb at my regular gym in Tokyo some times. I’ve never seen anyone so focused on what they are doing in my life.

Her trade off is that she struggles with cordi/big dynamic moves 😢 it’s quite clear in the recent BJC comp last week but considering that she still managed to make finals despite a very strong pool of Japanese climbers competing is still rather impressive

I had the absolute pleasure of watching Ai win gold in Edinburgh, it was incredible. Since she hadn't competed as much as everyone else she didn't have a ranking during the qualis so she was literally the first on the wall, obviously she topped it with ease - it felt like HOURS before someone else got close!!

She climbs like a Tai Chi master. She doesn’t use a lot of strength but she is so powerful. Every move is very precise and controlled. Her legs can also twist in any direction to optimize her body position. So impressive to watch!

She moves just beautifully. Smoothly as a watercolour paintbrush on paper

“3 of the best climbers watch getting beat by an 18yo” - dude, Chaehyun is actually a little younger than Ai, and Natalia and Mia are 21 and 22, respectively. Not exactly a world apart. And small and light climbers excelling in lead isn’t exactly a new thing either. Kim Jain and Laura Rogora are even shorter.

I love being short as a climber. Yeah, I can't skip the crux on most climbs but most of the best climbers I've seen in real life have been short af. Excited for Ai!!!

She uses a three finger drag a lot. Even on powerful dynamic moves. If she can get three fingers on a crimp she can hold it.

I can't get enough of Ai mori! Great video Marcus!

3:20 Did you seriously cut out the moment of her completing the move that you were focusing on?? I assume the broadcast must have not shown it, but then why talk about how well Ai did it when it's not shown..

Right at the end of the video, going back to the foot on the crimp, she uses her hand to help ensure her foot is properly placed on the crimp and maintains that full 3 point contact until she feels comfortable to remove her hand. The subtlety of her climbing is amazing

You're ignoring the biomechanical advantages of being shorter. 2:26 you can see clearly that the longer wingspan of Mia Krampl makes the compression move massively more powerful for her than it is for Rabatou. Places where Mori can straight-arm is not always possible for taller climbers. Crazy she can make the big moves and still be so efficient.

One of the difference I have noticed is that Ai Mori is not only short, she also has shorter limbs and narrower shoulders proportional to her already short stature. For instance Ashima Shiraishi has an ape index of 4', I'm sure Ai's is nowhere near that. Maybe like Lynn Hill, she also has an ape index of about neutral. Shorter limbs makes big dyno moves much harder for her, however she managed to use it to her advantage in almost all other situations. One of the examples I can think of is in the Morioka combined final, at the move where Natalie fell off: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ettdp7irvMCaZXU.html. Natalie was almost contorted while Ai found a natural body position. You can easily see from this move how different their body proportions are.

Always enjoy watching Ai Chan climbing - after waiting for a long long time :) . Enjoy the videos and thanks for all the analysis - attention to detail!

In a vlog on tomoa and akiyos channel, she shows her AMAZING stamina and resilience by climbing a pretty decent climb like over 10 times

Akiyo Noguchi became her new coach also, who knows what we'll see in the future!

2:57 lol you cut out the most important part

ngl bud the absurdist art comparison is weird to me. It's just a climber climbing. Analyzing the expressions of the other competitors felt like one of those weird "body language expert" videos where they call Obama a cuckold because of how he sits in a chair. Like, they're just watching something like 25 meters overhead, so they look awkward lol. The climb analysis was great, as usual, but the framing for it felt like a college student bullshitting their way through an essay they forgot to study for.

So much crossover with boxing and combat sports in general. Create the triangle shape for stability before reaching out to "strike" or grab a hold. When your leg gets in the way, watch for if your toe or heel is contacting the surface because hip orientation is paramount to efficient force generation and subsequent motion

I’ve been waiting for this!!!!! Thank you!!!

Being creative isn't the same as being an absurdist.

@3:05 "Did you see that" cuts out the actual move xD

In the Ai vs Natalia comparison, you don't take into account time under tension. Ai got her feet out but had to match on the hold whereas Natalia went straight to the next hold saving time. Is one better than the other? As in everything climbing, it depends. (Same thing in the heel vs toe. It's power vs mobility (as you touched on). You can pull much harder with a heel, but you sacrifice mobility. IMO, it's very doubtful that climbers at this level can't choose between when to use a heel and when to use a toe, so presumably Seo felt that she needed the additional pull from the heel/leg to make the big span. You'll also note that Ai stays locked off and much higher on the holds whereas Seo drops down and has to bound up to the next hold. This isn't a simple "OMG Ai's a genius because she saw that you could put a toe there.")

i've seen so many short of ai mori, shes nuts

“Did you see that?” But he skips 5 seconds

As a 186 cm climber with +8in ape index this is kinda fun to watch. I started climbing when i was rougly 165 cm so I've always adapted to a strange style which I still keep now that im so much taller. This means often using my feet above my head on overhang and high hip positions on slab. Even tho the biomecanics of my body vs climbing style probably differs, the sense of absurdity in climbing style is something that amazes alot of my friends, kinda like when Jan Hojer used to pull his insane shit in comps.

Yes about kim jain she's so cool to watch

She is basically the Yoda of climbing.

To make it static means always lesser risk than to dyno same move. The trade off taller climbers have is they never had to develop technique to make static moves, so they often get away with power moves and let foot go, leading to fatigue. I would always take a shorter climbers trade off than a taller bulkier one. Of course Ai will suffer from long dynos. Short climber will always do.

Ai is so short it's really amazing how well she can climb.

3:04 you cut the video so we can’t see what se did

3:02 no it cut :c

Had chills while you were describing Ai's absurd abilities, great vid!

I love her

I was waiting for this video:D

fucking wild that someone like this can exist. she flies

These principles are universal. I also apply them to my martial arts practice.

seems to me that Ai Mori is a very intelligent climber.

I know nothing about climbing but this was really interesting!

can you add this to your climbing styles playlist?

When you are a small climber you have to think that way, getting the most of your feet and body position, with a great hips mobility this become magical, it makes all the difference.

Seeing a clip of snuff box in a climbing video is insane

Great video, mate! Trough your content I learn so much about climbing technique and culture. Thank you so much!!!

Ai Mori is the literal GOAT of rock climbing.

I appreciate the introduction to Ai Mori but I found the editing in this video to be frustrating. Especially when showing Ai climbing it seemed like parts were cut out for no reason.

I think this what dave graham meant by wizardy, doing stuff thats out of ordinary

Ah Snuff Box, this is indeed one of the most absurdal show.

i found very much your analitic videos :)

Fun!

Glad you share my admiration of Ai Mori. I saw her in Toulouse in 2019 and literally fell in love with her style and composure.

Bro the cut at 3:06 where you say did you see that literally cuts the thing we are supposed to see:/

Its a little silly to invoke absurdism in art here... [person] did [thing] which was unexpected, and then [other person] was surprised therefore [person] is in some way an absurdist. Idk chief. With a connection this weak we can call any climber we want an absurdist. Jan Joher the absurdist for the time he used his height. Adam Ondra the absurdist for the time he static'd the dyno. Alex Megos the absurdist for the time he was just too strong....etc

The new IT... what a genius

She climbs smarter not harder (although obviously she climbs super hard!).

Can we talk about how she is able to match on the tiniest holds

Awesome video - thanks for an interesting breakdown!

Read up on her again and it seems she needs more calories and protein to maintain her form from 2019 with more muscles. I think she was more inclined towards dynamic moves then or has the capacity to withstand more punishment from falls in the attempts. Judging from her interviews, she decided that she is not suited to weight training and concentrates in just climbing training.

Was the "Did you see that?" question at 3:03 a joke? I absolutely did not see that. Because the whole move was cut away and not shown at all. Even worse camera work than world cups in general smh

Comp kids keep evolving

in this game, Janja did the same thing. But when Ai do it, people think it's amazing. I guess it's because Janja was more powerful.......

She looks more flexible than the other climbers

05:54 "Most climbers see a route as..." This sounds more like your opinion being passed as fact. How do you know this, was there a study or some article about how climbers route read and climb? Maybe next time preface with something like " I think most climbers...."

Me when I remember they don't stick to the wall and are in fact 100% strenght

She's kinda a genius

“Did you see that?” 2:58 Um no because the actual move was cut out? Am I missing something?

I keep thinking hes talking in first person

5:10 her leg oml

Mori means "forest."

aaaand that's why i hate when people complain about the route cos "Ai is short". well, yeah, but most of the time it's an advantage! if height was in any way beneficial we'd see top athletes to be very tall but the truth is that the best, Janja, is 164cm and with men the average is below 180 cm with some exceptions like Adam. But look at Soratu or Mejdi, they are the top of the top yet they are about 172cm! It's a misconception that being tall helps. Ai has shortcomings like every athlete and that is it, routsetting has nothing to do with it.

Those people may all be rock climbers, too, but after the second tome you called this aftificial indoor(?) Sport climbing "rock climbing" I knew this was not by mistake. It's both great sports but they are quite different beasts, I'm doing both. Besides this I'm short, too, and can confirm: if you can't simply reach up to the next grip/clip, then moving your feet, weight, orientation a lot is essential to get further. I also use wall smearing and deadpoint climbing a lot on artificial walls. And what I always tell to friends starting out with climbing who want to improve quickly: you don't climb with your hands and drag your feet after, you climb with your feet! Always look where you can put your feet and then look what you can grip to get them there. Using your legs to stand up instead of dragging you up with your arms all the time doesn't strain you nearly as much!

Great video! well done!

Thank you for saying Edinburgh correctly, every time I hear a non British person pronounce it "Edin-burrow" it always makes me cringe

Weighting 20 kilograms has benefits too

The comments...yikes. It's always this undertone with non european/americans athletes I wonder why.

There are multiple times in this video where you ask “did you see that” however, when u first play the clip before asking that, the clip is cut, so the viewer does not see what ur referencing. It is only after you ask “did u see that”, and play the clip again, this time in full, that we see it. Idk y u do this

What about the deeper implications of philosophical absurdism to this.

she is lighter so makes sanse in a way

03:00 You've skipped the move... twice!? Ngl but I think this video needs work man. A quarter of the way in and the script isn't great and editing is poor

*Skips her doing the move* "Did you see that?" Bruh..

The gunshot was -cringe- triggering But otherwise nice video

I appreciate the observations in these videos but I really don't like how the speech in these videos are so certain about what's going on in the head of a climber without ever talking to them... Just change the speech, don't say "Ai Mori sees this x and x way" like it's a fact, say "I think she sees things this way because..." Or "after my observations of the last x days and x videos I believe she sees things this way because.." , or just abstain from making assumptions about what people you never talked to think or do

good, tall people piss me off

2nd

Promo-SM 😋

You speculate way too much on that athletes states of mind or thinking process...

first

bad audio mixing