Four Hills Tournament
Encyclopedia
The Four Hills Tournament is composed of four Ski Jumping World Cup
events and has taken place in Germany and Austria
each year since 1952.
The Four Hills Tournament champion is the one who gets the most points over the four events. Unlike the World Cup ranking, however, the actual points scored during the competitions are the ones that are used to find the winner.
The four individual events themselves are part of the World Cup and award points toward the world cup in exactly the same manner as all other world cup events.
50 first series competitors are divided into 25 pairs. All 25 winners of those internal "duels" plus five best "lucky losers" qualify into the second series. It is theoretically possible that a competitor with the 12th first series result does not qualify into the second series (if he loses his internal duel, five lucky losers and winners of their duels have better results) while the one with the 49th first series result may still qualify (if his "rival" has the worst result). On the other hand, jumpers are less likely to be disadvantaged by a possible significant change in weather conditions between the start and end of the first series. A change in the direction and speed of the wind can make it impossible for the best jumpers to produce a good result. In the event of significantly worse conditions during the second half of the first series, the possibility exists that most of the best jumpers would be eliminated by bad luck alone. Directly pairing rivals reduces the impact of these conditions. In this competition format the qualifying series are valued as well, since jumpers with a better qualification result will have the opportunity to compete against jumpers with worse result. Therefore, it is not enough for a jumper to be among 50 best jumpers in qualifications (with whatever result), but it is better for him to achieve as good result as possible.
If qualification is postponed until the day of competition, the knock-out system is not used, and competition follows regular world cup rules. Because of that in the 2007/08 tournament, knock-out system was used only in Oberstdorf.
is the only ski jumper to have won the tournament five times, with wins in 1998–99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2007–08. Jens Weißflog was the first ski jumper to reach four wins. He won the tournament in 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1996. The next in number of wins are Helmut Recknagel
and Bjørn Wirkola
with three titles each. Wirkola's victories came in three consecutive years (1967–1969), a record still uncontested.
The fourth victory of Janne Ahonen in 2005–06 was also the first time the tournament victory was tied between two competitors, with Jakub Janda
sharing the title by obtaining his first 4 Hills Tournament success.
Jens Weißflog and Bjørn Wirkola have both won ten individual competitions within the Four Hills Tournament. Janne Ahonen is next with 9 victories, followed by Matti Nykänen
who has seven.
During the 49th edition of the tournament (2000–01) Adam Małysz had advantage of 104.4 points to the second competitor in the Tournament Janne Ahonen which is the biggest advantage in the tournament's history. He has also won all four qualifications that year. During the 50th edition of the tournament (2001–02), Sven Hannawald
became first, and so far only, person to win all four competitions in a single year.
Germany has the most victories with sixteen (eleven of which were pre-1989), next comes Finland
with 15 victories and then Norway
with ten wins and Austria with nine. Czechoslovakia
and one of its successors the Czech Republic have two wins altogether; the following countries all have a single victory: Japan, Slovenia, Poland
and the USSR.
Ski jumping World Cup
The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is a ski jumping tournament held yearly by the International Ski Federation since 1979–80 season.- World Cup points :...
events and has taken place in Germany and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
each year since 1952.
The Four Hills Tournament champion is the one who gets the most points over the four events. Unlike the World Cup ranking, however, the actual points scored during the competitions are the ones that are used to find the winner.
The four individual events themselves are part of the World Cup and award points toward the world cup in exactly the same manner as all other world cup events.
Tournament hills
| Date | Image | Place | Hill name | K-Point | Hill size | Hill record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 or 30 December |  |
Oberstdorf Oberstdorf Oberstdorf is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in southwest Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps.At the center of Oberstdorf is a church whose tall spire serves as a landmark for navigating around town. The summits of the Nebelhorn and Fellhorn provide... , Germany |
Schattenbergschanze Schattenbergschanze Schattenbergschanze is a ski jumping hill located in Oberstdorf, Germany. The hill has held two FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and has kicked-off the Four Hills Tournament on 30 December every year since 1952.... |
K-120 | HS 137 | 143.5 m (2003) Sigurd Pettersen Sigurd Pettersen Sigurd Pettersen is a Norwegian ski jumper . His greatest achievement is winning the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen in 2003.... , Norway |
| 1 January | Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, and the district is on the border with Austria... , Germany |
Große Olympiaschanze Große Olympiaschanze The Große Olympiaschanze is a ski jumping hill located in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.-1936 Winter Olympics:At the 1936 Winter Olympics, it hosted the ski jumping event and the ski jumping part of the nordic combined event. It also host the opening and closing ceremonies of those games... |
K-125 | HS 140 | 143.5 m (2010) Simon Ammann Simon Ammann Simon Ammann is a Swiss ski jumper, and double Olympic Champion at both 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics.Ammann was born in Grabs, Switzerland, to Margit and Heinrich Ammann and raised in Unterwasser, Switzerland. He has two brothers and three sisters. He married Yana Yanovskaya on 25 June 2010... , Switzerland |
|
| 3 or 4 January |  |
Innsbruck Innsbruck - Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus... , Austria |
Bergiselschanze Bergiselschanze Bergiselschanze is a ski jumping hill located in Bergisel in Innsbruck, Austria. It is one of the more important venues in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, annually hosting the third competition of the prestigious Four Hills Tournament.... |
K-120 | HS 130 | 134.5 m (2002) Sven Hannawald Sven Hannawald Sven Hannawald is a former German ski jumper who competed from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s. Hannawald won the Four Hills Tournament once. He also won four medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, as well as three medals each in the Olympic Winter Games and the FIS Ski-Flying World... , Germany |
| 6 January |  |
Bischofshofen Bischofshofen Bischofshofen is a city located in the Salzach valley in the Alps, in the District of Pongau, in Salzburgerland, Austria.The city is an important railway hub and lies at the Tauernautobahn, a highway route through the Alps.... , Austria |
Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze was opened in 1941, and re-built in 2003, and is a ski jumping venue in Bischofshofen, Austria. It is one of the more important venues in the FIS Ski jumping World Cup, annually hosting the fourth and final competition of the prestigious Four Hills Tournament... |
K-125 | HS 140 | 143.0 m (2005) Daiki Ito Daiki Ito is a Japanese ski jumper who has competed since 2002. He won two bronze medals in the team large hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships .... , Japan |
Knock-out system
One of the tournament's particularities is its qualifying system. Unlike other ski jumping events where the best 30 competitors of the first series qualify into the second series, all four tournament's events follow a knock-out system, first introduced in the 1996–97 season.50 first series competitors are divided into 25 pairs. All 25 winners of those internal "duels" plus five best "lucky losers" qualify into the second series. It is theoretically possible that a competitor with the 12th first series result does not qualify into the second series (if he loses his internal duel, five lucky losers and winners of their duels have better results) while the one with the 49th first series result may still qualify (if his "rival" has the worst result). On the other hand, jumpers are less likely to be disadvantaged by a possible significant change in weather conditions between the start and end of the first series. A change in the direction and speed of the wind can make it impossible for the best jumpers to produce a good result. In the event of significantly worse conditions during the second half of the first series, the possibility exists that most of the best jumpers would be eliminated by bad luck alone. Directly pairing rivals reduces the impact of these conditions. In this competition format the qualifying series are valued as well, since jumpers with a better qualification result will have the opportunity to compete against jumpers with worse result. Therefore, it is not enough for a jumper to be among 50 best jumpers in qualifications (with whatever result), but it is better for him to achieve as good result as possible.
If qualification is postponed until the day of competition, the knock-out system is not used, and competition follows regular world cup rules. Because of that in the 2007/08 tournament, knock-out system was used only in Oberstdorf.
Records
Janne AhonenJanne Ahonen
Janne Petteri Ahonen is a former Finnish ski jumper who has competed in the world cup between 1992-2011. A legendary ski jumper, he is widely considered one of the best and most successful athletes in the history of the sport...
is the only ski jumper to have won the tournament five times, with wins in 1998–99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2007–08. Jens Weißflog was the first ski jumper to reach four wins. He won the tournament in 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1996. The next in number of wins are Helmut Recknagel
Helmut Recknagel
Helmut Recknagel is a former East German ski jumper who was active in the late 1950s and early 1960s.Recknagel was born in Steinbach-Hallenberg, Thuringia....
and Bjørn Wirkola
Bjørn Wirkola
Bjørn Wirkola is former ski jumper and footballer from Norway.He became World Champion in Oslo in 1966, winning both the large and normal hill competitions...
with three titles each. Wirkola's victories came in three consecutive years (1967–1969), a record still uncontested.
The fourth victory of Janne Ahonen in 2005–06 was also the first time the tournament victory was tied between two competitors, with Jakub Janda
Jakub Janda
Jakub Janda is a Czech ski jumper, winner of 2005-6 Four Hills Tournament and winner of the Ski jumping World Cup 2005–6....
sharing the title by obtaining his first 4 Hills Tournament success.
Jens Weißflog and Bjørn Wirkola have both won ten individual competitions within the Four Hills Tournament. Janne Ahonen is next with 9 victories, followed by Matti Nykänen
Matti Nykänen
Matti Ensio Nykänen is a Finnish former ski jumper who won five Olympic medals , nine World Championships medals and 22 Finnish Championships medals . Most notably, Nykänen won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Yvonne van Gennip of the Netherlands, the most...
who has seven.
During the 49th edition of the tournament (2000–01) Adam Małysz had advantage of 104.4 points to the second competitor in the Tournament Janne Ahonen which is the biggest advantage in the tournament's history. He has also won all four qualifications that year. During the 50th edition of the tournament (2001–02), Sven Hannawald
Sven Hannawald
Sven Hannawald is a former German ski jumper who competed from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s. Hannawald won the Four Hills Tournament once. He also won four medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, as well as three medals each in the Olympic Winter Games and the FIS Ski-Flying World...
became first, and so far only, person to win all four competitions in a single year.
Germany has the most victories with sixteen (eleven of which were pre-1989), next comes Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
with 15 victories and then Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
with ten wins and Austria with nine. Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and one of its successors the Czech Republic have two wins altogether; the following countries all have a single victory: Japan, Slovenia, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the USSR.
National quota
During the Four Hills Tournament many national jumpers from Germany and Austria are allowed to qualify for the competition. This allows them to show themselves and get experience. The national jumping team starts first in the qualification.External links
- http://www.vierschanzen.org
- http://www.home.no/hanslysaker/hopukvin.htm