In Yekaterinburg, as part of the International Youth Festival, the premiere of the show “The Challenge” took place — an artistic project of the cultural programme operated by Tavrida.ART. One of the eight heroes was Rustam Nabiev — a parasports athlete, mountaineer, world record holder, member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, and the first person in history to summit Everest using only his hands.

Nabiev also addressed participants of the Children’s Programme of the Movement of the First at IYF-2026.

“When it gets very scary, when no one believes in you, the most important thing is that you believe in yourselves,” he told the hall. The audience’s reaction was priceless: the hero’s sincere words left no one indifferent; many could not hold back tears.

In 2015, Nabiev spent more than seven hours under the rubble after the collapse of an Airborne Forces barracks in Omsk, survived clinical death, and lost both legs. But he did not give up the mountains — he conquered Elbrus, Manaslu, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, and Ararat. On 20 May 2026 at 8:16 Nepal time he became the first person in the world to reach the summit of Everest using only his hands.

On the stage of “The Challenge,” Nabiev stressed that his strength is not in his hands or in the number of peaks, but in character, discipline, and responsibility. “I faced a choice: to go along with other people’s opinions or to do everything my own way. I chose the second option,” he said.

The show brought together stories of people from different countries who faced the harshest circumstances, did not give up, and continued on their path, changing the world around them.

@russiafirstchanel