I surprisingly agree with the opinion put out. Shoes have made a night-and-day difference. Also Alex was able to practice climbing indoors on artificial walls no matter the weather outside, starting from an early age.
And also Alex is the very definition of an Outlier. Everything kind of came together.
To maybe give an idea on how important those shoes that Alex wore were - or at least how perfect they were for the ascent: the athlete that designed them w/Sportiva, Tommy Caldwell put up all but two of the free routes on El Capitan (so only 8 or so in total), including the hardest free route on the wall. The shoes were effectively made for that one area.
Huber Brothers did more than 2 (Freerider, Golden Gate, El Nino, Zodiac). Skinner and Piana freed Salathe, Lynn freed the Nose. Most repeats aren't done in TC Pros.
And also Alex is the very definition of an Outlier. Everything kind of came together.