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

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Nation Number of Athletes Athletes
  Germany 14 Hermann 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
  Austria 8 Sepp Bradl, Rudi Dietrich, Ferdi Kerber, Alwin Plank, Fritz Rüpp, Erwin Steinegger, Walter Steinegger, Toni Wieser
  Norway 3 Asgeir Dølplads, Erling Kroken, Halvor Næs
  Sweden 4 Harry Bergquist, Karl Holmström, Toivo Lauren, Axel-Hermann Nilsson
  Switzerland 1 Fritz Schneider
  Yugoslavia 3 Karel Klančnik, Janez Polda, Jože Zidar

Results

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Garmisch-Partenkirchen

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  Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
01 January 1953

Rank Name Points
1   Asgeir Dølplads 221.5
2   Sepp Bradl 220.5
3   Toni Brutscher 219.5
4   Halvor Næs 218.5
5   Toivo Lauren 215.0
6   Sepp Weiler 212.5
7   Sepp Hohenleitner 209.5
8   Erling Kroken 209.0
9   Walter Steinegger 204.5
10   Franz Dengg 198.0

Oberstorf

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  Schattenbergschanze, Oberstorf
04 January 1953

Rank Name Points
1   Erling Kroken 217.0
2   Sepp Bradl 215.5
3   Asgeir Dølplads 215.0
4   Halvor Næs 214.5
5   Karl Holmström 213.0
  Sepp Weiler 213.0
7   Toni Brutscher 212.0
8   Toivo Lauren 211.5
9   Franz Eder 210.0
  Sepp Hohenleitner 210.0
  Walter Steinegger 210.0

Innsbruck

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  Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck
06 January 1953

Rank Name Points
1   Sepp Bradl 224.0
2   Asgeir Dølplads 223.0
3   Harry Bergquist 219.0
4   Halvor Næs 216.5
5   Sepp Hohenleitner 215.0
6   Karl Holmström 213.5
7   Toni Brutscher 212.0
8   Janez Polda 211.5
9   Toivo Lauren 209.5
10   Fritz Schneider 209.0
  Sepp Weiler 209.0

Bischofshofen

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  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.

Rank Name Points
1   Halvor Næs 228.0
2   Sepp Bradl 218.6
3   Harry Bergquist 216.4
4   Franz Eder 210.7
5   Sepp Weiler 209.4
6   Karl Holmström 208.6
7   Asgeir Dølplads 208.3
8   Toivo Lauren 207.9
9   Erling Kroken 205.3
10   Janez Polda 204.3

Final ranking

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Rank Name Garmisch-Partenkirchen Oberstorf Innsbruck Bischofshofen Points
1   Sepp Bradl 2nd 2nd 1st 2nd 878.6
2   Halvor Næs 4th 4th 4th 1st 877.5
3   Asgeir Dølplads 1st 3rd 2nd 7th 867.5
4   Toni Brutscher 3rd 7th 7th 12th 847.0
5   Toivo Lauren 5th 8th 9th 8th 843.9
  Sepp Weiler 6th 5th 11th 5th 843.9
7   Sepp Hohenleitner 7th 9th 5th 14th 827.7
8   Walter Steinegger 9th 9th 13th 11th 822.9
9   Karl Holmström 17th 5th 6th 6th 813.6
10   Erling Kroken 8th 1st N/A 9th 631.3

References

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  1. ^ "1. Januar 1953 – Die erste Vier-Schanzen-Tournee startet" (in German). WDR. 2013.
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