Sauna World Championships: Overlooked Olympic Event?

Travel Blog  •  Ben Keene  •  08.12.08 | 11:17 AM ET

Those Games in Beijing you may have heard about overshadowed this year’s 10th annual Sauna World Championships in Heinola, Finland, but that doesn’t diminish the achievement of Bjarne Hermansson, who lasted an impressive 18 minutes and 15 seconds in the official sauna.

For two days, contestants from around the world endured dry heat that reached temperatures of about 110 degrees Celsius (230 degrees Fahrenheit), in the hopes of adding their names to the gold trophy. Another Finn, Leila Kulin, captured the women’s title, enduring the sauna for 5 minutes 22 seconds.

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Tags: Europe, Finland

Ben Keene has appeared on National Public Radio, Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio as well as other nationally syndicated programs to discuss geographic literacy and his work updating a bestselling world atlas. Formerly a touring musician, he has written for Transitions Abroad and inTravel.


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