1953 Four Hills Tournament

The inaugural Four Hills tournament was held in January 1953. It was in planning since 1949, but in the post-war years German athletes were not allowed to compete internationally. The organizers were German and Austrian ski jumpers who knew each other from competing together for Germany under the Nazi regime

Four Hills Tournament
VenuesGroße Olympiaschanze, Schattenbergschanze, Bergiselschanze, Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze
LocationGermany, Austria
Dates1 January 1953 (1953-01-01) – 11 January 1953 (1953-01-11)
Nations6
Medalists
gold medal 
silver medal 
bronze medal 

At the time, ski jumping was an amateur sport and the winners were given material prizes like portable radios or cooking pots.[1]

The first competition was held on New Year's day, making it the only Four Hills tournament that did not start in December, although the New Year's day competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen would eventually become traditional.

Participating nations and athletes

NationNumber of AthletesAthletes
 Germany14Hermann Anwander, Friedl Brandner, Toni Brutscher, Franz Dengg, Franz Eder, Toni Eisgruber, Robert Engel, Willi Fischer, Willy Gotthold, Sepp Hohenleitner, Hans Karg, Heini Klopfer, Toni Landenhammer, Sepp Weiler
 Austria8Sepp Bradl, Rudi Dietrich, Ferdi Kerber, Alwin Plank, Fritz Rüpp, Erwin Steinegger, Walter Steinegger, Toni Wieser
 Norway3Asgeir Dølplads, Erling Kroken, Halvor Næs
 Sweden4Harry Bergquist, Karl Holmström, Toivo Lauren, Axel-Hermann Nilsson
  Switzerland1Fritz Schneider
 Yugoslavia3Karel Klančnik, Janez Polda, Jože Zidar

Results

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Germany Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
01 January 1953

RankNamePoints
1Norway Asgeir Dølplads221.5
2Austria Sepp Bradl220.5
3Germany Toni Brutscher219.5
4Norway Halvor Næs218.5
5Sweden Toivo Lauren215.0
6Germany Sepp Weiler212.5
7Germany Sepp Hohenleitner209.5
8Norway Erling Kroken209.0
9Austria Walter Steinegger204.5
10Germany Franz Dengg198.0

Oberstorf

Germany Schattenbergschanze, Oberstorf
04 January 1953

RankNamePoints
1Norway Erling Kroken217.0
2Austria Sepp Bradl215.5
3Norway Asgeir Dølplads215.0
4Norway Halvor Næs214.5
5Sweden Karl Holmström213.0
Germany Sepp Weiler213.0
7Germany Toni Brutscher212.0
8Sweden Toivo Lauren211.5
9Germany Franz Eder210.0
Germany Sepp Hohenleitner210.0
Austria Walter Steinegger210.0

Innsbruck

Austria Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck
06 January 1953

RankNamePoints
1Austria Sepp Bradl224.0
2Norway Asgeir Dølplads223.0
3Sweden Harry Bergquist219.0
4Norway Halvor Næs216.5
5Germany Sepp Hohenleitner215.0
6Sweden Karl Holmström213.5
7Germany Toni Brutscher212.0
8Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Janez Polda211.5
9Sweden Toivo Lauren209.5
10Switzerland Fritz Schneider209.0
Germany Sepp Weiler209.0

Bischofshofen

Austria Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Bischofshofen
11 January 1953

Before the last event, Sepp Bradl was leading the tournament ranking by only half a point ahead of Asgeir Dølplads, who in turn had a ten-point lead to fellow Norwegian Halvor Næs. In the competition however, it was Næs rather than Dølplads who put Bradl's tournament victory in danger. Winning the Bischofshofen event clearly, he reduced the distance to Bradl from 10.5 to 1.1 points but ultimately could not prevent him from becoming the first Four Hills winner.

RankNamePoints
1Norway Halvor Næs228.0
2Austria Sepp Bradl218.6
3Sweden Harry Bergquist216.4
4Germany Franz Eder210.7
5Germany Sepp Weiler209.4
6Sweden Karl Holmström208.6
7Norway Asgeir Dølplads208.3
8Sweden Toivo Lauren207.9
9Norway Erling Kroken205.3
10Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Janez Polda204.3

Final ranking

RankNameGarmisch-PartenkirchenOberstorfInnsbruckBischofshofenPoints
1Austria Sepp Bradl2nd2nd1st2nd878.6
2Norway Halvor Næs4th4th4th1st877.5
3Norway Asgeir Dølplads1st3rd2nd7th867.5
4Germany Toni Brutscher3rd7th7th12th847.0
5Sweden Toivo Lauren5th8th9th8th843.9
Germany Sepp Weiler6th5th11th5th843.9
7Germany Sepp Hohenleitner7th9th5th14th827.7
8Austria Walter Steinegger9th9th13th11th822.9
9Sweden Karl Holmström17th5th6th6th813.6
10Norway Erling Kroken8th1stN/A9th631.3

References

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