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
At the time, ski jumping was an amateur sport and the winners were given material prizes like portable radios or cooking pots.
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
14Hermann 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
8Sepp Bradl, Rudi Dietrich, Ferdi Kerber, Alwin Plank, Fritz Rüpp, Erwin Steinegger, Walter Steinegger, Toni Wieser
3Asgeir Dølplads, Erling Kroken, Halvor Næs
4Harry Bergquist, Karl Holmström, Toivo Lauren, Axel-Hermann Nilsson
1Fritz Schneider
3Karel Klančnik, Janez Polda, Jože Zidar

Results

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1 January 1953
RankNamePoints
1

Oberstorf

, Oberstorf
4 January 1953
RankNamePoints
1

Innsbruck

, Innsbruck
6 January 1953
RankNamePoints
1

Bischofshofen

, 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
1

Final ranking

RankNameGarmisch-PartenkirchenOberstorfInnsbruckBischofshofenPoints
1