Two Sauna Masters, One Room, a Song Neither Has Heard: Saunamasters Battles Return Dec. 10

The Masters Freestyle Aufguss, the battle-format sauna competition Germany’s Kristall Bäder runs as Saunamasters, opens its 2027 season on December 10 at Kristall Therme Ludwigsfelde, just south of Berlin. Qualifiers follow at Thermen Soesterberg in the Netherlands, January 22 to 24, and at Infinit Sen in Senohraby, Czechia, February 15 to 17. The final runs March 17 to 20 at Kristall Therme Kochel am See in Bavaria.

Applications closed on October 25. Kristall will tell applicants by email on November 2 whether they’re in, and those picked have until November 6 to confirm, under its conditions of participation.

Two sauna masters share the room for four rounds

Each competition aufguss lasts 15 minutes and puts two sauna masters in the same sauna. In the first two rounds, each picks a song and both perform to it. In the third, they get time to choose a song together and work out a routine. The fourth is the battle: both freestyle to music they haven’t heard. Kristall bills it as an extreme sport, with acrobatics at more than 176°F. Chris Shenkle, a world finalist, and Anders Hage of the Danish Sauna Masters Association described what that work takes, from managing the heat to recovery between sessions, in our report on sauna master training.

That’s a different contest from the Aufguss World Championships, where each solo or team show has the room to itself. Head-to-head duels also decide the Aufguss World Cup Freestyle, a separate championship with its final in Czeladź, Poland, in February, which we covered in our guide to aufguss’s four world championships.

Sixteen sauna masters reach the final

Kristall fills 16 places at each qualifier. The top two women and the top two men from each go straight to the final. Those who finish third and fourth, six women and six men in all, get a second chance at the playoffs at Kristall Therme Bad Wilsnack on March 5 and 6, which send two more women and two more men to Kochel.

Competitors must be at least 18, have worked as sauna masters and be able to communicate in English. They applied with an Instagram video of up to three minutes showing Modern Classic towel work, a large towel and two towels at once. Kristall covers meals, lodging and materials, and each competitor may bring a companion. There’s no entry fee, and competitors pay their own travel. The organizer’s site lists prizes of €1,500, €1,000 and €500 (about $1,670, $1,110 and $560) for the top three.

The final’s sauna seats 300 around two lit heaters

The final takes place in the Herzogstand sauna at Kristall Therme Kochel am See, which holds 300 guests. Its two illuminated heaters stand in the middle of the room. The benches circle them, so the audience faces the sauna masters and, through a wall of windows, the Kochelsee and the Herzogstand mountain behind them. Kristall advertises 15 event aufguss sessions a day there.

Saunamasters winners also win world titles

Barbora Brožová of Czechia, the women’s winner in 2023 and 2026, won the team title at the world championship at SATAMA in September with Hendrik Bißlich. Róbert Židek of Czechia, the 2025 men’s winner, finished third in this year’s world singles final. Francesco Sava of Italy, the men’s winner in 2023 and 2024, finished second in the world team competition with Elia Beghini, and Mattia Fortunati Rossi of Italy, this year’s men’s winner, finished seventh with Claudio Massa and Massimo Gelli.