British Nordic Walking Instructor Convention 2020: Aki Karihtala, INWA President

British Nordic Walking Annual Instructor Convention 2020. Aki Karihtala, INWA President, talking about the history of Nordic Walking and future developments. Aki relates the history of Nordic Walking from its origins as off-season training for cross-country skiers in the 1930s, to the first experiments in "walking with ski poles" in 1966, to the early 1990s when a Finnish cross-country ski-ing event took place with participants walking with their poles rather than ski-ing as the snow had failed to arrive. 1996 saw the first steps to formalise the sport, with specially design poles being designed by Exel, and the term "Nordic Walking" coined to describe the technique that was developed by sports scientists and biomechanics experts. The sport was promoted within Finland with the then Finnish Prime Minister giving his backing. By 1999, Nordic Walking had expanded into Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In 2000, The International Nordic Walking Association (INWA, now the International Nordic Walking Federation), was formed to promote and support Nordic Walking globally. There are now around 12 million Nordic Walkers around the world, with China being the country where it is growing fastest. In 2004, the INWA 10-Step Method of teaching Nordic Walking was formalised and it is this approach that is used by all INWA instructors to ensure that their Nordic Walkers can achieve the full benefits of the full Nordic Walking technique.