4-Hills-Tournament - 10 days of craziness

The athletes are the same, the sporting performances are the same, the rules are the same - except the KO format in the qualification, the frame conditions are identical, and still, sometimes it seems as if the whole Ski Jumping World Cup is just a warm-up and a cool-down before and after the 4-Hills-Tournament.

The Ski Jumping World Cup of the International Ski Federation FIS is a great competition series. From the opener mid-November in Wisla (POL) until the final event in Planica (SLO), almost 40 competitions are held at 22 venues. The sporting value is extremely high and the format is great for TV, the athletes are professionals - daredevils - popular.

The interest in Ski Jumping of fans and media is top among the most popular winter sports. Ski Jumping is somehow always cool - at rightfully so.

The four competitions in Oberstdorf (GER), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER), Innsbruck (AUT) and Bischofshofen (AUT) are actually all events on the FIS World Cup calendar, like all the others. In 1953 the four events were combined to a new series and the points scored in each of the four competitions were added up. The founders would have probably never imaged what their idea would turn into one day.

4-Hills-Tournament - everything's different
Everything is different on the 10 days of the 4-Hills-Tournament. During these ten days, Ski Jumping is a national sport. The TV ratings are suddenly not the level of the most popular winter sport but on the level of an important soccer game.

There's a more than tenfold increase of the public interest in the sport of Ski Jumping during the time of the 4-Hills-Tournament. There's a more than tenfold increase regarding the advertising efforts of the sponsors. For these ten days, Ski Jumping is THE sport.

During the 4-Hills-Tournament, Ski Jumping not only attracts its core audience but also those who are usually not that interested in Ski Jumping or winter sports - it fascinates practically everyone.

The opener in the arena of Oberstdorf has the event character of a soccer game in the Premier League, Ski Jumping on New Year's day is always a highlight, between Christmas and January 6th there are not that many other sports on TV. Ski Jumping is as cool as ever - but it's the 4-Hills-Tournament.

Everyone has to judge for himself if this short-term rise in interest is seen negatively because Ski Jumping would deserve this kind of attention during the course of the entire season, or if it's considered great that the sport of Ski Jumping is the center of attention for ten days and some might continue watching afterward.

It's a fact that the 4-Hills-Tournament will not lose its extreme popularity in the foreseeable future.

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By the way: The 4-Hills-Tournament is not that unique in the Ski Jumping World Cup anymore. A second, similar competition series was is carried out by four Norwegian World Cup organizers since 2017: the RAW AIR.

At the four venues, Oslo, Lillehammer, Trondheim, and Vikersund World Cup competitions are held in March. Similar to the 4-Hills-Tournament, the results are added up. The Top 3 get a prize money of € 100 000,-. The interest in this event can not be compared to the 4-Hills-Tournament yet, but it's constantly increasing.

Over the last couple of years, the RAW AIR became an exciting and very well organized competition series.