Great Big Story are delighted to be able to share the story of paraclimber Brian Zarzuela, a three-time national champion and climbing World Cup-winning athlete who has overcome disability to scale walls at terrifying speed.
This is the latest in our ‘Super Power’ series made in collaboration with Huel.
When Brian Zarzuela first started climbing on his 19th birthday, the odds were stacked against him having much of a future in the sport. In his own words, he was pretty bad. He was terrified of the heights and had never done anything like it before. Brian was also born with only one hand. Even Brian himself must have doubted he would achieve what he has done in since then.
One person who wasn’t surprised was his mother, Rosalina. “They say that when kids are in the belly, you feel what they are going to do,” she told Great Big Story. “And it felt like he was climbing around my belly.”
From a very young age, it was obvious that Brian wasn’t going to let his disability define him. Unable to crawl, he began running, not walking, at eight months. Throughout school, he tried different sports and activities. Baseball, basketball, handball, ice skating, football, BMX, martial arts – you name it he tried it. And yet until that 19th birthday, he hadn’t found an outlet for years and years of built-up energy.
Brian excels across the mental, technical and physical components that are essential to the sport of climbing. This was on display at the recent US National Paraclimbing Championships in Maryland, where we went and watched Brian take home the gold medal.
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You can watch Brian in action and hear his story in full in the video above.
If you enjoyed this Great Big Story, you might also want to meet Karenjeet Kaur Bains, the real-life superwoman. By day, she’s a chartered accountant and by night she transforms into a record-setting powerlifter.
