For the 20th edition of the Four Hills Tournament, the FIS deviated from the traditional order of events and started the tour in Innsbruck. The overall winner was Norwegian Ingolf Mork. In the previous year, Mork won three out of four events while only placing second overall.
Before the tournament started, the Japanese team already announced that they would only participate in the first three events before returning to Japan in order to prepare for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo five weeks later. This decision ended up taking the tournee victory from Yukio Kasaya, who won all three events he participated in, and had a lead of 50.4 points to Mork. He would have been the first non-European tour winner. The preparation paid off: The Japanese took all three medals at the Olympic Normal hill event, Kasaya winning Gold.
Four Hills Tournament | |||||||
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Venues | Schattenbergschanze, Bergiselschanze, Große Olympiaschanze, Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze | ||||||
Location | Germany, Austria | ||||||
Dates | 29 December 1971 – 6 January 1972 | ||||||
Competitors | 100 from 17 nations | ||||||
Medalists | |||||||
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A Bulgarian jumper competed for the first time. The Japanese team did not sign up for the final event in Bischofshofen.
Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck
29 December 1971 [1]
Yukio Kasaya, who was in dominating form in the winter of 1971/72, became the first Non-European to win an event at the Four Hills Tournament. The Czechoslovakian and Norwegian teams disappointed with modest results for several tournament favourites, among them title holder Jiří Raška (12th), Ingolf Mork (22nd) and three-time competition winner Bjørn Wirkola (44th).
Rank | Name | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Yukio Kasaya | 245.2 |
2 | Rainer Schmidt | 235.5 |
3 | Tauno Käyhkö | 229.9 |
4 | Henry Glaß | 225.4 |
5 | Yury Kalinin | 224.6 |
6 | Heinz Wosipiwo | 223.7 |
7 | Takashi Fujisawa | 222.7 |
8 | Gariy Napalkov | 222.4 |
9 | Heinz Schmidt | 220.0 |
Anatoliy Zheglanov | 220.0 | |
Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1 January 1972 [2]
Rank | Name | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Yukio Kasaya | 242.9 |
2 | Tauno Käyhkö | 229.2 |
3 | Ingolf Mork | 227.5 |
4 | Takashi Fujisawa | 222.5 |
Heinz Wosipiwo | 222.5 | |
6 | Seiji Aochi | 222.2 |
7 | Hiroshi Itagaki | 221.4 |
8 | Bjørn Wirkola | 218.6 |
Henry Glaß | 218.6 | |
10 | Anatoliy Zheglanov | 218.3 |
Schattenbergschanze, Oberstdorf
2 January 1972 [3]
Rank | Name | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Yukio Kasaya | 247.9 |
2 | Ingolf Mork | 246.5 |
3 | Hans Schmid | 235.4 |
4 | Yury Kalinin | 233.6 |
5 | Esko Rautionaho | 232.0 |
6 | Hiroshi Itagaki | 231.3 |
7 | Rainer Schmidt | 229.7 |
8 | Gariy Napalkov | 228.3 |
9 | Günther Göllner | 226.8 |
10 | Hans-Georg Aschenbach | 226.5 |
Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Bischofshofen
6 January 1972 [4]
Not taking Kasaya into account, who would not compete at Bischofshofen, the leading field was close together. Mork, who was leading Käyhkö with a margin of 1.2 points, saw his closest competitors struggle: Käyhkö (31st), R. Schmidt (56th), Kalinin (21st).
Veteran Zakadze finished in the Top Ten, precisely sixteen years after his first victory at a Four Hills event.
Rank | Name | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Bjørn Wirkola | 233.6 |
2 | Jiří Raška | 233.0 |
3 | Zbynek Hubac | 229.5 |
4 | Ingolf Mork | 229.0 |
5 | Reinhold Bachler | 228.8 |
6 | Hans-Georg Aschenbach | 226.1 |
7 | Koba Zakadze | 225.7 |
Walter Steiner | 225.7 | |
9 | Henry Glaß | 225.0 |
10 | Rudolf Höhnl | 224.9 |
Rank | Name | Innsbruck | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Oberstdorf | Bischofshofen | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ingolf Mork | 22nd | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 914.6 |
2 | Henry Glaß | 4th | 9th | 13th | 9th | 893.6 |
3 | Tauno Käyhkö | 3rd | 2nd | 12th | 31st | 892.3 |
4 | Heinz Wosipiwo | 6th | 4th | 22nd | 11th | 888.8 |
5 | Yury Kalinin | 5th | 16th | 4th | 21st | 886.4 |
6 | Jiří Raška | 12th | 32nd | 25th | 2nd | 877.0 |
7 | Hans-Georg Aschenbach | 35th | 18th | 10th | 6th | 872.0 |
Koba Zakadze | 19th | 13th | 20th | 7th | 872.0 | |
9 | Gariy Napalkov | 8th | 26th | 8th | 32nd | 869.8 |
10 | Bjørn Wirkola | 44th | 8th | 27th | 1st | 869.3 |
The second Four Hills tournament was the first one to use the traditional event order of Oberstdorf in December, the New Year's event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then Innsbruck and the final in Bischofshofen on Three Kings' Day.
At the third edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria, Hemmo Silvennoinen became the first ski jumper to win the tournament without winning any of the single events. He won ahead of two other Finns.
The fourth edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was the first of its kind to have ski jumpers from the Warsaw Pact zone competing.
The fifth edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was won by Pentti Uotinen. Another Finnish athlete, Eino Kirjonen placed second in the overall ranking for the third time. It was the first edition without the winner of the inaugural tournament, Sepp Bradl.
The sixth edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was won by East German athlete Helmut Recknagel, who won on both Austrian hills. It was his first of three tournament victories within four years.
The seventh edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria saw Helmut Recknagel of East Germany win three out of four events and become the first ski jumper to defend his title as Four Hills champion. He also set the record for most consecutive hill victories at Four Hills tournaments (five). It was equalized by Sven Hannawald in 2002 and by Kamil Stoch in 2018.
The eighth annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was influenced by the German flag controversy, which led to the teams of the Warsaw pact zone withdrawing from the tournament. In addition, Finland and Norway decided not to compete due to preparations for the upcoming 1960 Winter Olympics. Finland ultimately sent prospective athletes.
Eino Kirjonen became the third Finnish tournament winner at the tenth annual Four Hills Tournament. Against tradition, Innsbruck was the second single event, switching with Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which was held third.
At the 11th annual Four Hills Tournament, the strong Norwegian team saw three of its tournament debutants within the Top 5. Toralf Engan dominated the tour with three clear victories and became the second Norwegian to win the tour after Olaf Bjørnstad 10 years earlier.
At the 14th annual Four Hills Tournament, Veikko Kankkonen became the only second athlete to win the tournament more than once, after he already emerged victorious two years before.
The 15th annual Four Hills Tournament was won by Norwegian athlete Bjørn Wirkola who secured three dominating victories after a surprising double victory for the East German team in Oberstdorf.
In 1969, Norwegian Bjørn Wirkola became the first person to win the Four Hills Tournament three times in a row. He was the fifth athlete to win the first three events, but yet again the 'Grand Slam' was denied, this time by Wirkola's closest rival Jiří Raška. It was a disappointing tournament for the two host nations with the best athlete from either being Reinhold Bachler, finishing 11th overall.
In 1971, Jiří Raška became the first Czechoslovakian to win the Four Hills Tournament. For the first time, an athlete who won three out of four events did not end up winning the tournament after Ingolf Mork lost twenty points to Raška and Hubac in Innsbruck.
The 21st annual Four Hills Tournament was won by East German athlete Hans-Georg Aschenbach. After a dominating victory at the first event in Oberstdorf, and three more podium finishes, he ended up with a 43-point lead over second-placed Walter Steiner, who became the first Swiss to win a Four Hills event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
At the 23rd edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament, Willi Pürstl became the first Austrian tour winner since Sepp Bradl, who won the inaugural tournament.
The 24th edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament was won by East German Jochen Danneberg.
At the 25th annual Four Hills Tournament, Jochen Danneberg became the third ski jumper after Helmut Recknagel and Bjørn Wirkola to defend his title. Crucial was a clear victory at the New Year's event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. For the first time in ten years, there were four different winners at the single events.
The 26th annual Four Hills Tournament was won by Finnish ski jumper Kari Ylianttila. In the final ranking, he led directly ahead of five East German athletes. Another one, defending champion Jochen Danneberg, was the overall leader after his victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but didn't compete at the events in Austria.
The 27th annual Four Hills Tournament was won by Finnish athlete Pentti Kokkonen after two Third place finishes and two victories. No competitor had the necessary constancy over the course of the tournament. Yury Ivanov, the winner of Oberstdorf, only placed 56th in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Josef Samek's Garmisch victory was followed by a 38th place in Innsbruck.