Nordic Walking World Championships 2024 will be held in Lahti!
INWA (International Nordic Walking Federation) and Finlandia-hiihto will jointly organize the Nordic Walking World Championships on September 13-15, 2024 in Lahti, which is one of the most famous Nordic winter sports competition centers in the world. Several Nordic ski world championships and World Cup competitions have been organized in Lahti. Salpausselkä region also hosts an international mass ski event Finlandia-hiihto every year. Many domestic and international participants are expected. The previous World championships and the European championships were held in Poland in 2022 and 2023.
"On behalf of the world's largest nordic walking sports association, I am very pleased with the cooperation agreement with Finlandia-hiihto for organizing the world championships in Lahti", states the founder and president of the International Nordic Walking Association, Aki Karihtala. Finlandia-hiihto has a long tradition in organizing large skiing events, and therefore cooperation with Finlandia-hiihto is well justified.
"Nordic walking as a health exercise has been well launched to the world as a Finnish innovation, but with the competitive activity we have gained and will gain additional interest and development, also with younger participants. The competitions are of interest to people of many ages, and this has also been taken into account in the planning of the age categories. According to our estimates, there are already more than 13 million people exercising Nordic walking as a sport in more than 30 countries," continues Karihtala.
Finlandia-hiihto event director Markku Levanen is happy that Nordic walking has entered the spectrum of international sports events organized in Lahti. "The Nordic Walking World Championships bring a good and easy opportunity to take part in an international competition, seriously or fun in mind. Thus, like Finlandia-hiihto, it is suitable for many levels of participants. Lahti, Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geopark and Finlandia-hiihto offer a wonderful environment and a professional organization for the event." states Levanen.
Preliminary program and schedule of the Nordic Walking World Championships:
13.9.2024 5 km, opening ceremony
14.9.2024 10 km and 21 km
15.9.2024 4 x 5 km relay, open track and closing ceremony.
INWA (International Nordic Walking Federation):
INWA is an organization registered in Finland in 2000. INWA has successfully exported Nordic walking to more than 30 countries for over 20 years. The organization has activities promoting Nordic walking in more than 20 countries through its member organizations and has trained thousands of Nordic walking instructors around the world. INWA officially started Nordic walking competitive activities in 2017 with the first official competitions in China, where the number of actives is currently growing fast.
International Nordic Walking Federation INWA, President Aki Karihtala, email aki.karihtala@gmail.com
Finlandia-hiihto:
The Finlandia-hiihto organization operates in Lahti and has organized the world-famous Finlandia-hiihto since 1974 for more than 50 years already. Recently the Finlandia-hiihto event has had approximately 4 to 5 000 participants each year.
Finlandia-hiihto, event director Markku Levanen, email: markku.levanen@finlandiahiihto.fi
