World Sauna Championships

World Sauna Championships was organized in the town Heinola located in the south of Finland. The first competition was in 1999. Rules of this competition are relatively simple. The winner is a person who can sit in the sauna the longest and then walk out of sauna without any help. The temperature is sauna rises every 30 seconds when about half a litre of water is poured on the stove.

Only Finnish men have been winners in the male part of competition. Finnish Timo Kaukonen is a true legend. Until now he won 5 competitions. Russian woman Tatyana Arkhipenko won the latest female event. In 2010 the championships was held between the 5th and 7th of August. The competition included 135 competitors from 15 countries. The finals finished with a tragedy. After only 6 minutes Russian Vladimir Ladyzhensky and Finnish Timo Kaukonen collapsed. They were both taken to the hospital in city of Lahti. Soon after this Vladimir Ladyzhensky died. After this tragedy the organizers decided that there will be no more World Sauna Championships.