Las Vegas Sauna Master Joli Irvine Makes Aufguss Freestyle World Final; Tickets on Sale Nov. 1
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The Fontainebleau Las Vegas sauna master is the only American among the 22 finalists posted for the Battle of Gladiators final in Czeladź, Poland, February 23 to 27, 2027.
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Joli Irvine, a sauna master at Lapis Spa & Wellness at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, will compete in the Aufguss World Cup Freestyle final from February 23 to 27, 2027, at the Termy Rzymskie baths in Czeladź, Poland. The final has places for 12 women and 12 men. Irvine is the only American among the 22 finalists posted so far on the organizer’s finalist page.
The organizer hasn’t published 2027 prices. Tickets go on sale November 1, according to the German trade news site Sauna Wellness Update.
Both Irvine sisters reached the October play-offs
Joli and her sister Alexi won the US team title in 2025 and 2026, but the freestyle circuit has no US qualifier. In August the sisters received wild cards into its October play-offs at the same venue, Sauna Wellness Update reported. Both appear on the organizer’s play-off roster, which also lists Tasha Konkin under the flags of Italy and Canada. Joli made the final. Alexi is not among the 22 finalists posted so far.
Irvine and Japan’s Misaki Takada are the only finalists from outside Europe. Takada and Poland’s Jarosław Chomka are the defending women’s and men’s champions, and both are back. The field also includes David Zatočil and Veronika Švandová of Czechia, Lennart Kloß and Denise Häring of Germany, Rebeka Felber of Hungary, Michela Fatone of Italy and Elena Alekseeva of Slovakia.
Each duel puts two sauna masters in one sauna for three rounds. In the third, the battle round, both can work anywhere in the room. Competitors dress as gladiators, though costumes earn no points. The duels run in the Colosseum Sauna Arena, a sauna built to look like the Roman original, which holds about 300 people.
Last February, tickets ran from €55 to €363
At the February 2026 final, a Tuesday-to-Thursday day ticket cost €55 for club members and €65 for everyone else, according to the organizer’s ticket flyer. A five-day pass with the closing sauna night cost €313 for club members and €363 for everyone else, so prices ran from about $61 to $404. By mid-January, VIP tickets had sold out for every session except Tuesday to Thursday.
Priority entry to the arena went to VIP ticket holders and guests of the Pałac Saturna and Szafran hotels. A regular ticket didn’t guarantee entry to every session.
A US venue could host a qualifier
The circuit’s home page lists national qualifiers in the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany, and two Danish competitors also reached October’s play-offs. The organizer asks venues that want to stage a qualifier in their own country to get in touch. Without a US round, both Irvines reached the play-offs on wild cards.
How sauna masters qualify for rounds like these varies by country, from one-day courses to state exams, as our country-by-country guide to sauna-master training shows.
