# Four Hills Tournament

The Four Hills Tournament (German: Vierschanzentournee) or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week (German: Deutsch-Österreichische Skisprung-Woche) is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in Germany and Austria each year since 1953. With few exceptions, it has consisted of the ski jumping events held at Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, in this order.
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 determine the winner. In 2005–06, Janne Ahonen and Jakub Janda shared the overall victory after finishing with exactly the same points total after the four competitions. In 2001–02, the anniversary 50th edition, Sven Hannawald was the first to achieve the grand slam of ski jumping, winning all four events in the same edition. In 2017–18 season Kamil Stoch became the second ski jumper in history to obtain this achievement, and just a year later, in the 2018–19 edition, Ryōyū Kobayashi became the third.
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 | Place | Hill name | K-Point | Hill size | Hill record | Garmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenOberstdorf |
| 29 or 30 December | Oberstdorf, Germany | Schattenbergschanze | K-120 | HS 137 | 143.5 m (2003) Sigurd Pettersen | Garmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenOberstdorf |
| 1 January | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | Große Olympiaschanze | K-125 | HS 142 | 145.0 m (2025) Michael Hayböck | Garmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenOberstdorf |
| 3 or 4 January | Innsbruck, Austria | Bergiselschanze | K-120 | HS 128 | 138.0 m (2015) Michael Hayböck | Garmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenOberstdorf |
| 6 January | Bischofshofen, Austria | Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze | K-125 | HS 142 | 145.0 m (2019) Dawid Kubacki | Garmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenOberstdorf |
Traditionally, the order of the tournament competitions has been: Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck, Bischofshofen – with the following exceptions:
   * 1953: Garmisch-Partenkirchen was the first, and Oberstdorf the second event.
   * 1956–57, 1961–62, 1962–63: Innsbruck was the second event, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen third.
   * 1971–72: Innsbruck was first, and Oberstdorf third.
   * 2007–08, 2021–22: The Innsbruck event was cancelled due to bad weather, and replaced with an additional competition at Bischofshofen.

## Knock-out system

One of the tournament's peculiarities is its qualifying system. Unlike other ski jumping events where the best 30 competitors in the first round qualify for the second round, all Four Hills events follow a knock-out system first introduced for the 1996–97 season.
The 50 competitors are divided into 25 pairs. All 25 winners of these duels plus the five best losers qualify for the second round. It is theoretically possible that a competitor who finishes the first round 12th will not qualify for the second round (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 a result as good as possible.
The first jumper in the competition is the one who qualified 26th, followed by his pair who qualified 25th. The next pair has 27th and 24th from the qualification, one after that 28th and 23rd etc. The last pair has last qualified jumper against qualification winner.
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, the knock-out system was used only in Oberstdorf.

## List of winners

| * | Won all four events in the same season |
| | Won three events in the same season |
| Year | Oberstdorf | Garmisch- Partenkirchen | Innsbruck | Bischofshofen | Overall victory |
| 1953 | Erling Kroken | Asgeir Dølplads | Sepp Bradl | Halvor Næs | Sepp Bradl |
| 1953–54 | Olav Bjørnstad | Olav Bjørnstad | Olav Bjørnstad | Sepp Bradl | Olav Bjørnstad |
| 1954–55 | Aulis Kallakorpi | Aulis Kallakorpi | Torbjørn Ruste | Torbjørn Ruste | Hemmo Silvennoinen |
| 1955–56 | Aulis Kallakorpi Eino Kirjonen | Hemmo Silvennoinen | Koba Zakadze | Yuri Skvortsov | Nikolay Kamenskiy |
| 1956–57 | Pentti Uotinen | Nikolay Kamenskiy | Nikolai Schamov | Eino Kirjonen | Pentti Uotinen |
| 1957–58 | Nikolay Kamenskiy | Willi Egger | Helmut Recknagel | Helmut Recknagel | Helmut Recknagel |
| 1958–59 | Helmut Recknagel | Helmut Recknagel | Helmut Recknagel | Walter Habersatter | Helmut Recknagel |
| 1959–60 | Max Bolkart | Max Bolkart | Max Bolkart | Alwin Plank | Max Bolkart |
| 1960–61 | Juhani Kärkinen | Koba Zakadze | Kalevi Kärkinen | Helmut Recknagel | Helmut Recknagel (3) |
| 1961–62 | Eino Kirjonen | Georg Thoma | Willi Egger | Willi Egger | Eino Kirjonen |
| 1962–63 | Toralf Engan | Toralf Engan | Toralf Engan | Torbjørn Yggeseth | Toralf Engan |
| 1963–64 | Torbjørn Yggeseth | Veikko Kankkonen | Veikko Kankkonen | Baldur Preiml | Veikko Kankkonen |
| 1964–65 | Torgeir Brandtzæg | Erkki Pukka | Torgeir Brandtzæg | Bjørn Wirkola | Torgeir Brandtzæg |
| 1965–66 | Veikko Kankkonen | Paavo Lukkariniemi | Dieter Neuendorf | Veikko Kankkonen | Veikko Kankkonen (2) |
| 1966–67 | Dieter Neuendorf | Bjørn Wirkola | Bjørn Wirkola | Bjørn Wirkola | Bjørn Wirkola |
| 1967–68 | Dieter Neuendorf | Bjørn Wirkola | Gariy Napalkov | Jiří Raška | Bjørn Wirkola |
| 1968–69 | Bjørn Wirkola | Bjørn Wirkola | Bjørn Wirkola | Jiří Raška | Bjørn Wirkola (3) |
| 1969–70 | Gariy Napalkov | Jiří Raška | Bjørn Wirkola | Jiří Raška | Horst Queck |
| 1970–71 | Ingolf Mork | Ingolf Mork | Zbyněk Hubač | Ingolf Mork | Jiří Raška |
| 1971–72 | Yukio Kasaya | Yukio Kasaya | Yukio Kasaya | Bjørn Wirkola | Ingolf Mork |
| 1972–73 | Rainer Schmidt | Rainer Schmidt | Sergei Botschkov | Rudolf Höhnl | Rainer Schmidt |
| 1973–74 | Hans-Georg Aschenbach | Walter Steiner | Hans-Georg Aschenbach | Bernd Eckstein | Hans-Georg Aschenbach |
| 1974–75 | Willi Pürstl | Karl Schnabl | Karl Schnabl | Karl Schnabl | Willi Pürstl |
| 1975–76 | Toni Innauer | Toni Innauer | Jochen Danneberg | Toni Innauer | Jochen Danneberg |
| 1976–77 | Toni Innauer | Jochen Danneberg | Henry Glaß | Walter Steiner | Jochen Danneberg (2) |
| 1977–78 | Matthias Buse | Jochen Danneberg | Per Bergerud | Kari Ylianttila | Kari Ylianttila |
| 1978–79 | Yury Ivanov | Josef Samek | Pentti Kokkonen | Pentti Kokkonen | Pentti Kokkonen |
| 1979–80 | Jochen Danneberg | Hubert Neuper | Hubert Neuper | Martin Weber | Hubert Neuper |
| 1980–81 | Hubert Neuper | Horst Bulau | Jari Puikkonen | Armin Kogler | Hubert Neuper (2) |
| 1981–82 | Matti Nykänen | Roger Ruud | Per Bergerud Manfred Deckert | Hubert Neuper | Manfred Deckert |
| 1982–83 | Horst Bulau | Armin Kogler | Matti Nykänen | Jens Weißflog | Matti Nykänen |
| 1983–84 | Klaus Ostwald | Jens Weißflog | Jens Weißflog | Jens Weißflog | Jens Weißflog |
| 1984–85 | Ernst Vettori | Jens Weißflog | Matti Nykänen | Hroar Stjernen | Jens Weißflog |
| 1985–86 | Pekka Suorsa | Pavel Ploc | Jari Puikkonen | Ernst Vettori | Ernst Vettori |
| 1986–87 | Vegard Opaas | Andreas Bauer | Primož Ulaga | Tuomo Ylipulli | Ernst Vettori (2) |
| 1987–88 | Pavel Ploc | Matti Nykänen | Matti Nykänen | Matti Nykänen | Matti Nykänen (2) |
| 1988–89 | Dieter Thoma | Matti Nykänen | Jan Boklöv | Mike Holland | Risto Laakkonen |
| 1989–90 | Dieter Thoma | Jens Weißflog | Ari-Pekka Nikkola | František Jež | Dieter Thoma |
| 1990–91 | Jens Weißflog | Andreas Felder Jens Weißflog | Ari-Pekka Nikkola | Andreas Felder | Jens Weißflog |
| 1991–92 | Toni Nieminen | Andreas Felder | Toni Nieminen | Toni Nieminen | Toni Nieminen |
| 1992–93 | Christof Duffner | Noriaki Kasai | Andreas Goldberger | Andreas Goldberger | Andreas Goldberger |
| 1993–94 | Jens Weißflog | Espen Bredesen | Andreas Goldberger | Espen Bredesen | Espen Bredesen |
| 1994–95 | Reinhard Schwarzenberger | Janne Ahonen | Kazuyoshi Funaki | Andreas Goldberger | Andreas Goldberger (2) |
| 1995–96 | Mika Laitinen | Reinhard Schwarzenberger | Andreas Goldberger | Jens Weißflog | Jens Weißflog (4) |
| 1996–97 | Dieter Thoma | Primož Peterka | Kazuyoshi Funaki | Dieter Thoma | Primož Peterka |
| 1997–98 | Kazuyoshi Funaki | Kazuyoshi Funaki | Kazuyoshi Funaki | Sven Hannawald | Kazuyoshi Funaki |
| 1998–99 | Martin Schmitt | Martin Schmitt | Noriaki Kasai | Andreas Widhölzl | Janne Ahonen |
| 1999–00 | Martin Schmitt | Andreas Widhölzl | Andreas Widhölzl | Andreas Widhölzl | Andreas Widhölzl |
| 2000–01 | Martin Schmitt | Noriaki Kasai | Adam Małysz | Adam Małysz | Adam Małysz |
| 2001–02 | Sven Hannawald | Sven Hannawald | Sven Hannawald | Sven Hannawald | Sven Hannawald * |
| 2002–03 | Sven Hannawald | Primož Peterka | Janne Ahonen | Bjørn Einar Romøren | Janne Ahonen |
| 2003–04 | Sigurd Pettersen | Sigurd Pettersen | Peter Žonta | Sigurd Pettersen | Sigurd Pettersen |
| 2004–05 | Janne Ahonen | Janne Ahonen | Janne Ahonen | Martin Höllwarth | Janne Ahonen |
| 2005–06 | Janne Ahonen | Jakub Janda | Lars Bystøl | Janne Ahonen | Janne Ahonen Jakub Janda |
| 2006–07 | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Andreas Küttel | Anders Jacobsen | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Anders Jacobsen |
| 2007–08 | Thomas Morgenstern | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Janne Ahonen | Janne Ahonen | Janne Ahonen (5) |
| 2008–09 | Simon Ammann | Wolfgang Loitzl | Wolfgang Loitzl | Wolfgang Loitzl | Wolfgang Loitzl |
| 2009–10 | Andreas Kofler | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Thomas Morgenstern | Andreas Kofler |
| 2010–11 | Thomas Morgenstern | Simon Ammann | Thomas Morgenstern | Tom Hilde | Thomas Morgenstern |
| 2011–12 | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Andreas Kofler | Thomas Morgenstern | Gregor Schlierenzauer |
| 2012–13 | Anders Jacobsen | Anders Jacobsen | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Gregor Schlierenzauer | Gregor Schlierenzauer (2) |
| 2013–14 | Simon Ammann | Thomas Diethart | Anssi Koivuranta | Thomas Diethart | Thomas Diethart |
| 2014–15 | Stefan Kraft | Anders Jacobsen | Richard Freitag | Michael Hayböck | Stefan Kraft |
| 2015–16 | Severin Freund | Peter Prevc | Peter Prevc | Peter Prevc | Peter Prevc |
| 2016–17 | Stefan Kraft | Daniel-André Tande | Daniel-André Tande | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch |
| 2017–18 | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch * |
| 2018–19 | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Ryōyū Kobayashi * |
| 2019–20 | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Marius Lindvik | Marius Lindvik | Dawid Kubacki | Dawid Kubacki |
| 2020–21 | Karl Geiger | Dawid Kubacki | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch | Kamil Stoch (3) |
| 2021–22 | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Ryōyū Kobayashi | Daniel Huber | Ryōyū Kobayashi |
| 2022–23 | Halvor Egner Granerud | Halvor Egner Granerud | Dawid Kubacki | Halvor Egner Granerud | Halvor Egner Granerud |
| 2023–24 | Andreas Wellinger | Anže Lanišek | Jan Hörl | Stefan Kraft | Ryōyū Kobayashi (3) |
| 2024–25 | Stefan Kraft | Daniel Tschofenig | Stefan Kraft | Daniel Tschofenig | Daniel Tschofenig |

### Notes

* ↑ In the inaugural tournament, the first competition was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 Innsbruck was the second event, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen third.
* 1 2 Innsbruck was the first event, and Oberstdorf third.
* 1 2 The competition was held in Bischofshofen due to bad weather

## Records

Janne Ahonen 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, winning the tournament in 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1996. Helmut Recknagel, Bjørn Wirkola, Kamil Stoch and Ryōyū Kobayashi have the third best record, winning three titles each. Wirkola's victories came in three consecutive years (1967–1969), a record still uncontested.
Janne Ahonen's fourth victory in 2005–06 was also the first time the tournament victory was shared, with Jakub Janda, who claimed his first Four Hills Tournament crown.
Jens Weißflog and Bjørn Wirkola have both won ten Four Hills Tournament events. Janne Ahonen and Gregor Schlierenzauer are next with nine victories, followed by Ryōyū Kobayashi with eight.
In 2000–01, the 49th edition of the tournament, Adam Małysz beat second placed Janne Ahonen by 104.4 points. This is the biggest winning margin in the tournament's history. He also won all four qualifications that year. The following year Sven Hannawald became the first person to win all four competitions in a single season. In 2017-18 Kamil Stoch has repeated Hannawald's record and year after, Ryōyū Kobayashi became the third person to win all four events.
Austria currently holds the record for the number of overall victories (with seventeen). Two nations each have sixteen victories: Finland and Germany (including nine victories earned by ski jumpers from East Germany, four – from West Germany and three – from unified German team). Fourth is Norway with eleven victories. Poland has five victories, Japan has four victories. Czechoslovakia and one of its successors the Czech Republic have two victories altogether, as have Slovenia. Soviet Union has a single victory.

### Overall winners

Record overall victories :
| Overall victories | Name | Tournament(s) |
| 5 | Janne Ahonen | 1998–99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08 |
| 4 | Jens Weissflog | 1983–84, 1984–85, 1990–91, 1995–96 |
| 3 | Helmut Recknagel | 1957–58, 1958–59, 1960–61 |
| 3 | Bjørn Wirkola | 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 |
| 3 | Kamil Stoch | 2016–17, 2017–18, 2020–21 |
| 3 | Ryōyū Kobayashi | 2018–19, 2021–22, 2023–24 |
| 2 | Veikko Kankkonen | 1963–64, 1965–66 |
| 2 | Jochen Danneberg | 1975–76, 1976–77 |
| 2 | Hubert Neuper | 1979–80, 1980–81 |
| 2 | Matti Nykänen | 1982–83, 1987–88 |
| 2 | Ernst Vettori | 1985–86, 1986–87 |
| 2 | Andreas Goldberger | 1992–93, 1994–95 |
| 2 | Gregor Schlierenzauer | 2011–12, 2012–13 |

## 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.

## Notable participants

In 1965, the Polish jumper, Stanisław Marusarz (silver medal in World Championship, 1938 in Lahti) who was visiting the tournament, asked the jury in Garmisch-Partenkirchen to allow him a showcase jump. After a long debate, the jury agreed. Marusarz, who at this time was 53 years old (and not practicing jumping for nine years) achieved 66 meters, using borrowed skies and boots and making his jump in an official suit (in which he attended the New Years Party), which made the crowd applaud.