Nordic Saunathon 2026
A 24-hour sauna relay on International Day of Happiness. 150 participants rotated through a single sauna in five-to-ten-minute shifts, setting the Guinness World Record for longest sauna session marathon relay at 24 hours and six minutes.
Helsinki, Finland, host city of the Nordic Saunathon. Photo: Unsplash.
On March 20, 2026, the year Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive time, 150 participants at Hanken Business Lab in Helsinki set the Guinness World Record for the longest sauna session marathon relay.
The format: participants rotated through a single sauna in shifts of five to ten minutes, with handoffs under ten seconds, for 24 hours and six minutes. A Guinness World Records adjudicator verified the attempt on site, monitoring both the five-minute minimum per person and the temperature inside the sauna.
The organizers framed it as a celebration of collective wellbeing. "The Nordic Saunathon is about turning the world's happiest region into the world's most visible celebration of collective wellbeing, one uninterrupted sauna session at a time," they said.
For the full deep dive on how sauna marathons are spreading across Europe, see our Analysis of the format.
