The 48-year-old Italian endurance athlete arrived in Liwa on Saturday to carry out his latest challenge, which took 22 hours to complete.

Moreeb Dune is one of the highest sand hills in the world, with an altitude of 300 metres and a slope of 50 degrees.

Calderan’s latest challenge is the equivalent of climbing the Burj Khalifa 16 times.

“UAE is a strong nation with a strong vision and I learnt that here nothing is impossible (not only in desert as for my extreme exploration) and UAE is a perfect inspirational model that, for me, could be adopted from several countries worldwide,” Calderan told Sport360.

“But nothing arrives without effort, discipline and straight rules. Persistence, perseverance and discipline is a daily endurance challenge but the results will arrive.”