SaunaNews: Aufguss USA Nationals 2026 Returns With Doubled Field and Expanded Path to World Championships
- Design for Leisure
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
May 8, 2026
The second-year competition expands to three days across two Bathhouse venues, with a 100-plus-seat event sauna, doubled international qualification slots, and the clearest signal yet that programmed sauna experiences are becoming a commercial category in the United States.
The Aufguss USA Nationals 2026, the second annual qualifying competition for the Aufguss World Championships, returns to New York City May 19–21 with an expanded three-day format across two Bathhouse venues, more than double the competitor field of the inaugural event, and the largest event sauna in the country as its centerpiece.
The expansion is not just logistical. After a strong debut year, Aufguss USA has earned expanded international qualification: the top two solo performers and top two teams will advance directly to the WM Finals in Berlin this September, with runners-up heading to the Playoffs in the Netherlands. For a national organization in only its second year, that is a rare distinction in the 20-country competitive Aufguss circuit.
Key Facts
Event: Aufguss USA Nationals 2026
Dates: May 19–21, 2026
Venues: Bathhouse Atlantic Avenue, Downtown Brooklyn (May 19–20) and Bathhouse Flatiron (May 21)
Format: Show Aufguss Competition (May 19–20) + Modern Classic Cup (May 21)
Sessions: 9 performances across 3 four-hour sessions
Event sauna capacity: 100+ guests (largest in the country)
WM Finals qualification: Top 2 solo + top 2 teams → Berlin (Sep 13–20, 2026)
WM Playoffs qualification: Runners-up → Netherlands (Aug 27–30, 2026)
Competing nations at WM: 20 countries
Organizing sponsor: Design for Leisure
Partners: Harvia, Bathhouse, Aufguss Roots, Aromen, Romana
2025 solo champion: Alonzo Solorzano (Bathhouse NYC)
2025 team champions: Joli & Alexi Irvine (Fontainebleau Las Vegas)
Two Formats, Two Venues
The 2026 competition introduces a two-format structure that mirrors how Aufguss is practiced at the international level. The Show Aufguss Competition (May 19–20) takes place at Bathhouse’s new Atlantic Avenue location in Downtown Brooklyn, where performers combine heat, scent, music, props, costumes, and choreographed towel work into multi-sensory theatrical productions. Think Cirque du Soleil at 185 degrees.
The Modern Classic Cup (May 21) moves to Bathhouse Flatiron for a more traditional, ritual-driven format. Judging centers on the fundamentals: heat management, scent selection, atmosphere, and the quality of the infusion itself. No costumes, no elaborate staging. Just a sauna master, a towel, water, and stones.
The split recognizes a tension that has defined competitive Aufguss in Europe for years. Show Aufguss rewards spectacle and storytelling. The Modern Classic rewards mastery of the sauna itself. Both are legitimate expressions of the craft, and the strongest performers tend to be proficient in each. Running both formats at a national competition signals that Aufguss USA is building toward the full international competitive standard, not a simplified version of it.
The Atlantic Avenue venue, Bathhouse’s third New York City location, opened in late April 2026 and houses what the organizers call the largest event sauna in the country, built to host more than 100 guests per session. That capacity matters: Aufguss is a spectator experience, and the energy of a packed room is part of the performance.
“We’ve always believed the sauna should be a social, immersive experience, not just something you pass through,” said Travis Talmadge, co-founder of Bathhouse. “Aufguss brings that to life in a powerful way, and this new space allows us to do it at a completely different scale.”
The International Pathway
In its inaugural year, Aufguss USA earned one solo and one team qualification slot for the World Championships. For 2026, those slots have doubled: the top two solo performers and top two teams will advance to the WM Finals in Berlin (September 13–20, 2026), while the runners-up in both categories qualify for the WM Playoffs in the Netherlands (August 27–30, 2026).
“Earning expanded qualification in just your second year as a participating nation is a strong signal from the international community,” said Lasse Eriksen, President of Aufguss WM, in a statement accompanying the qualification announcement. The expansion was based on the quality of the U.S. delegation at the 2025 championships and the growth trajectory of the domestic program.
The Aufguss World Championships have grown into one of the sauna industry’s signature annual events. The 2025 edition in Verona drew 160 competitors from 18 countries to Aquardens Spa, where the Netherlands’ Sigrid van Rijswijk took the solo title and a Czech Republic trio won the team final. The event also saw the inauguration of the Sauna del Deserto, a 360-person-capacity sauna billed as the largest in the world.
What Happened in 2025
The inaugural Aufguss USA Nationals took place June 23–24, 2025, at Bathhouse Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Approximately 11 competitors participated, and sessions sold out.
Alonzo Solorzano, Head Sauna Master at Bathhouse NYC, won the solo category. Joli and Alexi Irvine, performing as “The Wellness Blend” out of Fontainebleau Las Vegas, took the team title. Travis Talmadge, Bathhouse co-founder, placed second in the solo division and advanced to the Playoffs alongside the team of Solorzano and Tovi Wayne.
At the WM Finals in Verona, Team USA did not crack the top eight in either category. That is not unusual for a first-year nation: competitive Aufguss has deep roots in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, where training pipelines and venue infrastructure have developed over decades. The fact that the U.S. earned expanded qualification after a single year of international competition suggests the governing body sees potential in the domestic program’s growth, not just its current results.
Who Is Behind It
Aufguss USA was founded by Design for Leisure (DFL), the Cedar Park, Texas-based hydrothermal spa consultancy that serves as the exclusive U.S. distributor for KLAFS. DFL’s CEO, Don Genders, has spent 30 years designing commercial spa environments and currently chairs the Global Wellness Institute’s Hydrothermal Initiative.
“For a long time, saunas in the U.S. have been underused spaces,” Genders said. “Aufguss changes that completely, turning them into a place where people gather, engage, and experience something together.”
The business logic tracks. GWI’s Hydrothermal Initiative named “Guided Rituals, Free Bathing” as a defining 2026 trend, describing how hydrothermal spaces are evolving from passive amenities into actively programmed environments where guests arrive for a specific session rather than simply using the facilities. Aufguss is the most visible expression of that shift.
Harvia, the Finnish sauna heater manufacturer and the world’s largest sauna and spa company by revenue, returns as a lead sponsor. “Sauna is for everyone, and Harvia’s ambition is to continue expanding how it’s experienced around the world,” said Nate Hagemeier, President of Harvia North America. “Through our partnership with Aufguss USA, we’re proud to support the 2026 competition in Brooklyn and help bring greater awareness to the ritual and its benefits.”
Additional sponsors include Aufguss Roots (a training and community platform for Aufguss practitioners), Aromen (a German scent and essential oil supplier for professional sauna use), and Romana (an Italian towel and textile manufacturer).
The Bigger Picture
The Aufguss USA Nationals arrive at a moment when multiple forces are converging around programmed sauna experiences in the U.S. market. The BBC profiled the global Aufguss movement in January 2026, noting its spread from Central European spa culture to venues in Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. The Therme Group staged a 250-session, 18-day sauna festival in Brooklyn in February and March 2026, drawing international Aufguss masters to perform at Domino Park on the Williamsburg waterfront.
And Bathhouse, the host venue, has been building infrastructure at speed. The company raised $35 million from Imaginary Ventures to fund an eight-city expansion. The Atlantic Avenue location, opening as the first event to be held in the new space, is purpose-built for the kind of large-format sauna programming that Aufguss requires: high ceilings, proper ventilation for sustained heat at performance intensity, and enough bench space for 100-plus guests to sit together in a single room.
For operators considering whether to invest in sauna programming, the Nationals offer a live case study. (SaunaNews published an operator playbook for Aufguss earlier this year.) The event demonstrates that audiences exist for high-energy, communal sauna performances, that the competitive framework provides a talent pipeline, and that sponsors (Harvia, DFL/KLAFS) are willing to put capital behind the format.
Why It Matters
The Aufguss USA Nationals are not just a competition. They are a proof-of-concept for programmed sauna experiences as a commercial category in the United States. When the country’s fastest-growing bathhouse operator builds a 100-seat event sauna specifically to host them, when the world’s largest sauna company sponsors them, and when the Global Wellness Institute’s Hydrothermal Initiative names guided rituals as a defining trend, the infrastructure underneath the event is telling you something about where American sauna culture is headed. The competitors earn a path to Berlin. The industry gets a signal that sauna programming has crossed from novelty to business model.
Tickets for all three days of Aufguss USA Nationals 2026 are available through the Aufguss USA website. Media credentials can be requested through the Aufguss USA media page. The Aufguss WM Finals take place September 13–20, 2026, in Berlin.