Fyodor Konyukhov, traveler, writer, artist. Biography

Fyodor Konyukhov was born in 1951 in the village of Chkalov, Zaporozhye Oblast, Ukrainian SSR (now Troitskoye). His father Philip was a fisherman and often took his son with him on fishing trips. His grandfather Mikhail, also a fisherman in the past, told his grandson about sea voyages, which he learned about from his friend - the famous polar explorer Georgy Sedov. Before leaving for the last expedition Sedov gave Konyukhov senior a cross, bequeathing to give it to the strongest descendant. This is how the relic came to Fedor.

Grandfather's stories and sailing with his father strongly influenced Konyukhov. Already in adolescence, he firmly decided to become a traveler and connect life with the sea. At the age of 15, the young man decided to make his first independent journey and cross the Sea of Azov on a homemade boat. Having learned about it, his father broke the boat. However, this did not stop the young man - he stole a small fishing boat, went on it on a solo voyage to Kerch and returned safely.

After school, Konyukhov entered the Odessa Maritime School as a shipwright. He also studied at the Leningrad Arctic School for a ship mechanic and at the artistic vocational school in Bobruisk. The future traveler did his compulsory service in the Baltic Fleet of the USSR Navy.

Dangerous route: Fyodor Konyukhov was the first to conquer the South Atlantic on paddles

The traveler traveled by paddleboat for 68 days

In 1977 Konyukhov went on his first major expedition - together with a research group of the Far Eastern Higher Marine Engineering School (today's Maritime State University) he followed the route of navigator Vitus Bering, who explored Kamchatka. In 1981, the traveler crossed Chukotka on a dog sled, and in 1987 he skied across Baffin Land in Canada in preparation for a trek to the North Pole.

In 1989, Konyukhov reached the North Pole as part of the Russian autonomous expedition Arktika, led by Vladimir Chukov. A year later, he made the first solo skiing trip to the North Pole in Russian history from Cape Lokot. The journey took 72 days, and the total distance was about 1 thousand kilometers.

In 1995-1996 Konyukhov alone reached the South Pole and planted the flag of the Russian Federation on the highest point of Antarctica - Vinson massif. The expedition took 68 days.

Among Konyukhov's significant achievements is the title of the first person who managed to complete the Grand Slam of Explorers program. To pass the test, it is necessary to visit the two poles of the Earth and conquer the seven highest peaks of the planet, including Everest. Fedor passed this route from 1992 to 1997. He also became the first Russian to complete the "Seven Summits of the World" program of climbing the highest mountains of each continent.

Konyukhov has participated in various international expeditions, including the Soviet-American bicycle race across the USSR Nakhodka - Moscow - Leningrad (1989), the Russian-Australian off-road rally (1991), European regattas aboard the maxi yacht Grand Mistral (1997) and other events.

Konyukhov has five round-the-world voyages to his credit, four of which were solo. The traveler crossed the Atlantic Ocean 15 times on a sailing yacht and twice on paddle boats. In 2002, he set a world record by crossing the Atlantic on a URALAZ rowboat in 46 days and 4 hours. In 2014, he crossed the Pacific Ocean in a rowboat in 159 days and 17 hours.

In July 2016, Konyukhov took part in a solo round-the-world balloon flight. During this trip he set two world records, having made the fastest (11 days and 4 hours) and the farthest (more than 35 thousand kilometers) round-the-world flight by balloon. However, the conquest of the air did not end there. In 2017, together with pilot Ivan Menyuylo, Konyukhov set an absolute world record for the duration of a balloon flight - 55 hours and 10 minutes.

In total, the traveler made several dozen different expeditions. He has traveled to all continents of the Earth and visited 190 countries. In 2021, he spent several weeks alone on a drifting polar ice station as part of the Clean Arctic volunteer project, researching microplastics in the ocean. And in July 2024, together with pilot Igor Potapkin, Konyukhov made the world's first flight to the North Pole on a two-seat motorized paraglider over the Arctic Ocean. The pilots traveled a total of 440 kilometers.

In early 2025, the traveler became the first person in history to cross the South Atlantic on a paddleboat. On February 11, Konyukhov's vessel reached 20 degrees east longitude (Cape Needle, South Africa) and headed further into the Indian Ocean. Not long before that, Fyodor was caught in a storm. The bad weather damaged the windsock on the boat, because of which it had to be steered manually. It was possible to install a spare part only after the end of the storm.

In Konyukhov's life there is not only traveling. Since 1998, he has been the head of the laboratory for distance learning in extreme conditions at the Modern Humanitarian Academy in Moscow. He is also a member of the Moscow Union of Artists and the Union of Writers of Russia. He has written more than 3,000 paintings and over 20 books.

Konyukhov is also a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was ordained in 2010 by Bishop Joseph (Maslennikov) of Zaporozhye and Melitopol. With his assistance several temples and chapels were built in the Far East, Arkhangelsk, Pereslavl Zalessky, Sevastopol and other regions of Russia. One of them is in the yard of Konyukhov's House-Museum in Moscow.

For his achievements in various fields, Konyukhov was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1988), the Order of Honor (2017), as well as the Medal "For Labor in Culture and Art" (2025).