Record international attendance at the 9^th Sauna World Championships in Heinloa.
Contestants from a record 16 countries sweated out through 14 rounds of hot and wet qualifiers to battle it out for the title of 2007 löyly(*) world champion. With the international contestants outnumbering the Finns for the first time the 2007 champioships turned out, as expected, into the sweatiest thriller yet.

After some epic battles were fought in the scorching 110 degrees Celsius heat through the 14 rounds of preliminaries the Finns managed to grab 2 seats in the womens final and all six mens seats!

Men’s finalists warming up (winner Timo Kaukonen is the sporty blond in the center with the mullet and tattoo)

 

As the temperatures climbed up to 130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit) in the final round, it was last years champions Timo Kaukonen (Lahti, Finland) in the mens category and Leila Kulin (Helsinki, Finland) in the women’s category who came out on top and managed to renew their titles. The disqualification of Natalia Tryfanava from Belarusin the women’s final did create some unexpected extra heat.

 

As expected the super-hot-swingers-mixed-doubles bonus-category was once more confidently dominated by the numerous experienced German teams.

 

The Sauna World Championships Official Rules:

1 Enter at your own risk.

2 Alcohol or competing under the influence of alcohol is strictly forbidden.

3 The seating in the sauna is random.

4 Contestants must be able to hold the official competition posture while in the sauna.

5 No touching of the skin

6 The temperature in the competition sauna starts at 110 degrees Celsius (equals 230 degrees Fahrenheit) in the qualifiers and is raised up to 130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit) in the final round

7 Moisture and heat gets up when every 30 seconds ½ litre of water is thrown on to the stove

8 Competition scene is: preliminary heats – qualifying rounds – semifinals – finals and the world champion is the one who sits the longest in the final sauna.

9 Contestants must be able to leave the sauna on their own.

 

 

The lovely 2007 Sauna World Championship Cheerleaders

 

(*) löyly = the spirit of sauna that rises when you throw water on the stove