The 10th annual Sauna World Championship took place in Heinola, Finland, over the weekend, with 160 men and women from 23 countries trying to tough it out in the heat for as long as possible.
Given that their country gave the sauna to the world, it wasn't too much of a surprise to see the Finns dominating.
Competitors concentrate as
they bear the intense heat during the men's semi-finals of the World Sauna
Championships.
Finnish Timo Kaukonen won the men's event by staying in the sauna for three minutes, 46 seconds.
And Tatyana Arkhipenko from Russian took the women's title with a time of three minutes, nine seconds.
If those times sound unspectacular, bear in mind that the saunas were heated to 110c, and half a litre of water was poured on the sizzling stones every 30 seconds, making it far more gruelling than the average relaxing sauna, which is 70-80c.
'It wasn't fun after two or three minutes,' admitted the contest's organiser Ossi Arvela.
Victory: Timo Kaukonen from
Finland emerges after wining the men's competition and Russian Tatyana
Arkhipenko celebrates with glee winning the women's
Two female competitors show
the strain as they battle to hold out
A glowing red Jarmo Nylund of
Finland gasps for air after the mens semifinals
Participants cast an eye over
their competition before the first event begins
Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy of
Russia runs out of the sauna after the heat proved to much for him to cope
with
Finnish Timo Kaukonen is
congratulated by his adoring fans after winning the men's final