The Eagles can come - Jumping hill Garmisch-Partenkirchen

In good time before the start of the 59th Four Hills Tournament, the German jumpers are also back in form. The athletes from Austria even have a historic chance...

Snippets about the 59th Four Hills Tournament

Historic chance of victory

The Austrian ski jumpers can celebrate a double triple at the 59th Four Hills Tournament. After the victories of Wolfgang Loitzl (2008/09) and Andreas Kofler (2009/10), this year for Austria would be the first-ever third consecutive tournament win. This feat has so far only been achieved by Norway, Bjørn Tore Wirkola had won three times in a row from 1966/67 to 1968/69. Another historic win would give the Austria eagles the achievement if they - as in the previous year - win all four individual events again. They have accomplished this twice in history, most recently in 2009/10 with wins by Andreas Kofler (Oberstdorf), Gregor Schlierenzauer (Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and Thomas Morgenstern (Bischofshofen). First achieved by Willi Puerstl (Oberstdorf) and Karl Schnabl (from Garmisch-Partenkirchen) in 1974/75 during Puerstl’s tour win. The Nation’s Fourfold Victory has occurred five times in the history of the Four Hills Tournament, achieved by Austria and also by Norway (Toralf Engan, Torbjørn Yggeseth, 1962/63), the GDR (Jens Weißflog, Klaus Ostwald, 1983/84) and the Federal Republic of Germany with Sven Hannawald’s historic success in the 2001/02 season.

The Tour: sharper than ever!

For the first time in the history of the Four Hills Tournament, all four jumps are produced by TV stations in HD quality. Both the German channels ARD and ZDF, as well as ORF, will thus be the so-called host broadcasters, bringing the world’s best jumpers to screens in unprecedented sharpness and brilliance. TV viewers can also look forward to new perspectives: ZDF will broadcast in Oberstdorf with a total of 33 cameras, including the so-called Fly-Cam that can follow the entire flight from takeoff to landing. Bayerischer Rundfunk is testing in Garmisch-Partenkirchen a novel analysis camera installed near the K-point, operated by remote control, at the request of the German Ski Association (DSV). With the help of the new camera, viewers see the athletes jumping toward them. Both broadcasters will also use helicopters.

HelmetCam: Florian Liegl jumps in for Andreas Goldberger

The former Austrian World Cup ski jumper Florian Liegl will replace his injured compatriot Andreas Goldberger this Tour season as the HelmetCam jumper. Although Goldberger will continue to comment as an expert for ORF together with Armin Kogler, he will not jump on the Tour ramps due to a knee injury. The substitute Florian Liegl was used by ORF at the Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau for the first time and did well, as ORF in Vienna says. The Goldberger era, however, should not be over yet. Goldi, who won the Four Hills Tournament twice in the 1990s, aims to be fit again by the Nordic World Championships in Oslo.

Onrush of Austrian fans

The successes of the Austrian ski jumpers in this World Cup winter have triggered a veritable rush for tickets to the Four Hills Tournament. 'For us, demand is gigantic and just as good as last year. And that, although this year we hold the competition on Monday instead of Sunday. With this response we did not expect this,' says Innsbruck organizer Alfons Schranz, who is also president of the Four Hills Tournament. Also the finale in Bischofshofen will have a sea of red-white-red flags of the Superlative. 'Even with us, in the higher-valued categories certain sections are already sold out. The demand is excellent,' says Hannes Pichler, Secretary General of the finale in Bischofshofen. Tickets for the tour can be conveniently ordered in advance via the Print@Home ticket service of the Four Hills Tournament at www.vierschanzentournee.com and printed at home on your own PC.

Source: www.skiclub-partenkirchen.de