The 2006–07

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament () or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week () is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in Germany and Austria each year since 1953. With few exceptions, it has consisted of the ski ju ...

was a series of

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

competitions held in the traditional venues of

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in German ...

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

and

Bischofshofen Bischofshofen () is a List of cities and towns in Austria, town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau District, St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian federal state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. It is an important traffic junction located both on ...

, located in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The tournament was part of the 2006–07 Ski Jumping World Cup and points scored in each of the four competitions also counted towards the World Cup rankings. Before the tournament started on 28 December 2006 the World Cup leader was

Simon Ammann Simon Ammann (; born 25 June 1981) is a Swiss ski jumper. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport, having won four individual Winter Olympic gold medals in 2002 Winter Olympics, 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, 2010. ...

. Norwegian Anders Jacobsen won the tournament, after finishing on the podium in both hills in Austria and never finishing worse than fifth on any of the four hills. He thus became the first debutant since

Toni Nieminen Toni Markus Nieminen (born 31 May 1975) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1991 to 2004, with a brief comeback in 2016. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers from Finland, having won both the World Cup overall title and the ...

in 1991–92 to win the tournament.

Arne Scheie Arne Scheie (born 7 January 1944) is a Norwegian sports commentator, with football and ski jumping as his specialties. He started working in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 1972, and started commenting the Four Hills Tournament in 1973. ...

, NRK telecast from the Bischofshofen event, 7 January 2007.

Gregor Schlierenzauer Gregor Schlierenzauer (; born 7 January 1990) is an Austrian former ski jumper who competed from 2006 to 2021. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won the Ski Jumping World Cup overall title, the Four Hills Tourname ...

, who turned 17 on the day of the final event in Bischofshofen, won the first and last event, but finished over 15 points behind after 11th place in Innsbruck.

Tournament review

Results are listed for the top 15 skiers, as well as skiers among the top six in the overall World Cup before the tournament, former overall World Cup winners, former Four Hills Tournament winners, former world record holders, and former World or Olympic champions.

Oberstdorf, 30 December 2006

Austrian junior world champion and newcomer

, who with his 16 years of age was one of the key factors and surprises of the pre season also excelled in the first day of the Four Hills Tournament. His first jump of the day (135.5 metres) was the furthest jump in competition, with only World Cup leader

and Martin Koch able to finish 0.5 metres short. While

Andreas Küttel Andreas Küttel (born 25 April 1979) is a Swiss former ski jumper who currently works in the field of sports science at the University of Southern Denmark. Career Küttel won five World Cup competitions from 2005 to 2007, and placed third in th ...

set a new record for the day in the second jump when he reached a distance of 136.5 metres Schlierenzauer again showed his skills and his capability of keeping his nerves in control when he jumped 142.0 metres, just 1.5 metres short to equalise the hill record set by

Sigurd Pettersen Sigurd Pettersen (born 28 February 1980) is a Norwegian former ski jumper. His greatest achievement is winning the 2003–04 Four Hills Tournament, with wins in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Bischofshofen. Pettersen also won two bronze ...

in 2003.

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

's Andreas Küttel claimed the second position, but trailed by 9.5 points, while

Adam Małysz Adam Henryk Małysz (; born 3 December 1977) is a Polish former ski jumper and rally driver. He competed in ski jumping from 1995 to 2011 and is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport. His many accomplishments include ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

finished in third position, 6.2 points behind Küttel. The win was Schlierenzauer's third win in five World Cup meetings. 2005–06 shared winners

Janne Ahonen Janne Petteri Ahonen (; born 11 May 1977) is a Finnish former ski jumper and drag racer. He competed in ski jumping between 1992 and 2018, and is one of the sport's most successful athletes of all time, as well as one of the most successful fr ...

and

Jakub Janda Jakub Janda (; born 27 April 1978) is a Czech politician and former ski jumper. In ski jumping he competed from 1996 to 2017, winning the gold medal in the 2005–06 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup as the 2006 World Champion. He also won the 2005/06 ...

only finished in seventh and 21st position respectively, while Olympic champion

Thomas Morgenstern Thomas Morgenstern (born 30 October 1986) is an Austrian former ski jumper who competed from 2002 to 2014. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, World Cup overall title twice with 23 ...

just reached a top 10 ranking. With his win Schlierenzauer not only took the lead in the Four Hills Tournament, but he also overtook Ammann to lead the overall World Cup.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1 January 2007

In windy and rainy conditions, the New Year's Day ski jumping (''Neujahrsskispringen'') was cancelled after one jump.

Noriaki Kasai is a Japanese ski jumper. His career achievements include a gold medal at the 1992 Ski Flying World Championships, winning the 1999 Nordic Tournament, individual silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and two individual bronze medals at the ...

, who failed to qualify for the event in Oberstdorf, finished third here after having the longest jump, but without a Telemark landing he was docked style points and finished third. Andreas Küttel won the event, and is now three points behind Schlierenzauer in the overall standings. Following Małysz' 12th place and Ammann's 16th place, Jacobsen advanced to third in the overall standings and second in the World Cup standings despite not having finished on the podium thus far in the Four Hills.

Innsbruck, 4 January 2007

With neither Küttel nor Schlierenzauer able to make it past 123 metres in either leap, they lost plenty of points to winner Jacobsen, who won his second World Cup event of his career. He gained 38 points on Schlierenzauer, and went from third place to a ten-point lead, ahead of Finland's Lappi who finished fourth in the race. Schlierenzauer fell six places in the overall Four Hills standings, but remained within 20 points, or 11 metres, of Jacobsen. Norway called up Olympic champion and last year's Innsbruck winner,

Lars Bystøl Lars Kristian Bystøl (born 4 December 1978) is a Norwegian former ski jumper who competed from 2002 to 2008. His career highlights include an individual gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, one individual World Cup victory, a gold medal in th ...

, to represent them in the Innsbruck event. However, Bystøl failed to qualify.

Bischofshofen, 7 January 2007

Gregor Schlierenzauer took his fourth World Cup win on his seventeenth birthday, but it wasn't enough to beat Jacobsen in the overall standings; despite having won two events to Jacobsen's one, Schlierenzauer had to be content with second place overall in the Four Hills tournament.

References

Oberstdorf results
from fis-ski.com

from fis-ski.com

from fis-ski.com

from fis-ski.com

Further references and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 Four Hills Tournament

Four Hills Tournament