The total number of visitors to SM-viikko (The Week of Finnish Championships), which celebrated its 10th anniversary in Espoo, reached a new record high for the second year in a row.

The Week of Finnish Championships held in Espoo was a true extravaganza of sports. Held over four days at the turn of July and August, the event featured Finnish Championship competitions in a total of 20 sports, bringing more than 3,000 athletes along with their support staff and officials to Espoo. There was plenty to see and experience for athletes of all ages, from powered paragliding to beach water polo, and from cricket to esports. In total, SM-viikko drew a record-breaking crowd of over 18,000 fans of sports to Leppävaara and Oittaa.

– The 10th anniversary celebrations of SM-viikko were, above all, a warm-hearted experience of coming together and doing things together while enjoying a variety of sports, each more interesting than the last. A cheerful buzz of conversation filled the Leppävaara Sports Park and Oittaa, and the audience visibly enjoyed what they saw and experienced, says Päivi Harri, the executive producer of SM-viikko. 

– One of the particularly great things about SM-viikko is that the audience gets to see the athletic performances up close. In many sports, the audience was able to see the athletes’ expressions and gestures up close, and officials standing nearby were happy to answer questions and provide more information about the competition and the sport. This summer, the audience had the opportunity to delve even deeper into the intricacies of the sports by trying them out for themselves. Visitors took advantage of this opportunity, and there were long lines of people eager to give the sports a try, says Harri.  

Triathlon Is the Most Popular Sport on YLE’s Channels

Yle plays a significant role during SM-viikko, and viewers were able to follow the excitement and competition of SM-viikko from the comfort of their own couches via Yle’s channels. This year, Yle broadcast the Finnish Championships for all participating sports on its channels. The thrilling finishes of nearly all the competitions were shown live on Areena and, on the same day, as a highlights reel or delayed broadcast on TV2.

The popularity of SM-viikko and the sports featured is evident from the fact that TV2’s Week 31 TOP 20 viewership chart included no fewer than twelve broadcasts from the Finnish Championships week! The triathlon supersprint drew the largest audiences to their TV sets, with the final broadcast on Sunday evening averaging 185,000 viewers, with a reach of a staggering 418,000 viewers! “Reach” refers to the number of people who watched the program for at least 3 minutes continuously.

The average viewership for Friday’s kettlebell competition was also an impressive 145,000 (reach of 327,000). The third-most-watched event was the truck pull, a favorite of SM-viikko, held early Sunday evening; the competition was watched by an average of 140,000 viewers on TV2 (reach: 396,000). The SM-viikko competition broadcasts are available to watch on Yle Areena for half a year.

Text translated with the help of AI.