Competitions in wife carrying have been organized in the municipality of Sonkajärvi every year since 1992. Since 1996, a winning pair can call themselves world champions.
The running competition is performed in pairs, where one person runs a 253.5 meter long track strewn with various obstacles and all the way carries the other team member - without taking help of equipment.
The person who is carried must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 49 kilos - or wear weights to reach the match weight. Although the event in English is called "wife carrying" the carried person does not have to be the carrier's wife.
Several well-known persons are participating this year, including Finland's strongest man 2024, Severi Allonen.
"This competition has always interested me and I see it as a great opportunity to create interesting content for social media. I also think that my strengths are well suited for this sport, so I had to give it a try", he says on the competition's website.
Last autumn, national championships in wife carrying were held in Australia, Belgium, China and the USA. The victory in last year's World Championship in Sonkajärvi was taken home by Vytautas Kirkliauskas and Neringa Kirkliauskiene from Lithuania.
