History

History of the Sauna Bathing World Championships

The idea of organizing a competition in sauna bathing was born when a group of men, who liked to sit in an extremely hot sauna, held unofficial competitions in the public sauna in Heinola swimming hall. Competitors for these unofficial competitions came from all around Finland.

Problems and mixed emotions, however, arose when the innocent people coming to the swimming hall suddenly noticed being in the middle of a competition - in the hottest spot of the sauna. Thus it was decided to organize an official sauna bathing competition in Heinola, where you would take part voluntarily and where all the competitors have the same rules.

Sauna World Championships 1999

The first Sauna Bathing World Championships were organized in 1999. This competition was warmly greeted: there were competitors from all over Finland; there were official qualifying rounds in Sweden. Among the competitors there were also people from Holland and Germany. The event had viewers by the thousands; there were several television companies from Finland, France and Germany. The whole event became a great sports event as it also had a Finnish sports commentator Antero Mertaranta making an account of the finals. The winners of 1999 were Ahti Merivirta from Helsinki and Katri Kämäräinen from Hollola. There were no finalists from abroad!

The interest shown towards the Sauna Bathing World Championships was not getting cooler - on the contrary!

Sauna World Championships 2000 on the 4th - 5th of August

The qualifying rounds and the finals were organized at the brand new Heinola Summer Theater on August 4th and 5th. The event was carried out in two days, where on Friday there was the first qualifying round and on Saturday the second qualifying round as well as the semifinals and finals both for men and women. There were international guests as well in the competition; they were from Russia, Holland, Sweden and Sierra Leone. In the year 2000 the World Champions were Leo Pusa from Helsinki in men and, for the second time, Katri Kämäräinen from Hollola.

As additional events there was a match between Finland and Sweden in Sauna Bathing. Finland won this event 15-7. The world`s first wedding in a sauna was also held on August 4th, 2000. During the wedding ceremony there could be heard the soothing sizzle of the sauna stove, as the young couple gave their vows. Also the Sauna Market Place (= Saunatori) was a huge success. There sauna-related products were introduced and sold, a cupper could be seen at his work, and people could try out the peat sauna.

Sauna Bathing World Championships were also the target of international interest; a lot of magazines, newspapers, radio stations and television stations from different countries were at the scene relating the intense atmosphere of the competition all over the world.

Sauna World Championships 2001 on the 3rd - 4th of August

The competition of 2001 was held in a very international atmosphere; there were 82 male and female competitors - from 14 different countries. There was a lot of audience to watch who would go home with the title this year. But the victory was still taken by the Finns - Annikki Peltonen from Imatra won the women`s title.

The winning time in the female competition was 9 minutes 19 seconds. The male champion was, second time in a row, Leo Pusa from Helsinki and his time in the sauna was 13 minutes 47 seconds. However, the competitors from abroad really seem to get tougher. Thus it remains to be seen if 2002 would be the year of a foreign winner.

Sauna World Championships 2002 on the 2nd - 3rd of August

Year 2002 was - if possible - even more international competition than before. In Heinola there were competitors from 16 different nationalities from as far as South Korea. However Finnish champions kept their places; Leo Pusa as men´s and Annikki Peltonen as women´s worldchampion.

Over 10 000 spectators witness the tough but yet funny competition in warm and sunny Heinola.

Sauna World Championships 2003 on the 1st - 2nd of August

The Sauna Worldchampionships were held in Heinola, Finland on the 1st - 2nd of August. Long time champions mr Leo Pusa and mrs Annikki Peltonen finally found their winners when Timo Kaukonen from Finland won the men´s and Natallia Tryfanava the women´s title.

The athmosphere was really heated up when the sold out Summer Theatre was chearing for their own. This year there were 80 competitors from 15 different countries as far as Australia and Moroco. International press was also well represented as media and tv-groups from countries like Sweden, Norway, Germany and all the way from China were reporting the world´s hottest event!

Sauna World Championships 2004 on the 7th - 8th of August

Almost 100 competitors took part in the sixth Sauna World championships in Heinola. In men´s series the championship went back to (now) four-time world champion Leo Pusa who won the last year´s champion Timo Kaukonen in a tough final. Women´s championship went – for the second time in a row – to Belarus with Natallia Tryfanava.

The Sauna World championships has also recieved a well know status among the international media. Reporters from over 20 countries reported the world´s hottest summer event and in Heinola among many others there where a tv-group from Japan and a reporter from the Outside Magazine. In Japan tens of millions of spectators watched the program of the Sauna World championships.

Sauna World Championships 2005 on the 12th - 13th of August

Many people think that the 2005 Sauna World championships were the most succesfull and toughest competition ever in the competition´s seven year history. (Even heavy thunder storms went over the Summer Theatre time after time during the weekend...) The competitors had trained really hard and that was seen in their times also - all the way from the preliminary heats to the finals. 90 competitors from 15 different countries was also a great achievement.

"The living Sauna legend" mr. Leo Pusa said that "it won´t take many years and we will have competitors from Belarus, Germany and from other parts of Europe who will seriously challenge us Finns in the championships - also in men´s series". The 2005 championships went to mr. Timo Kaukonen (Lahti / Finland) and ms. Natallia Tryfanava (Belarus) who at the same time made her hat-trick as she won her third championship in a row.