Four Hills Tournament 2025/26: Dates, TV & Top Contenders

The hunt for the Golden Eagle, the trophy for the overall winner of the Four Hills Tournament, will again attract tens of thousands to the venues and millions to their television screens after Christmas. The traditional start is the competition on the Schattenbergschanze in Oberstdorf, this time with the qualification on December 28th. Then we go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.

Last season, Austria’s ski jumpers dominated the Four Hills Tournament in an impressive way: a triple victory in the overall ranking with Daniel Tschofenig at the top. 11 of the 12 possible podium places in the four individual competitions went to the Austrian team – the Germans jumped far below expectations.

And this year? Philipp Raimund goes into the tour as the best German in the overall World Cup. He is currently in fourth place – behind Anze Lanisek from Slovenia, the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi and the currently strongest jumper Domen Prevc (Slovenia). Kobayashi has already won the Four Hills Tournament three times.

Oberstdorf (December 28/29, 2025)

The Schattenbergschanze in Oberstdorf is traditionally the location for the start of the tour. The Norwegian Sigurd Pettersen holds the hill record there with 143.5 meters, set at the end of December 2003.

Karl Geiger messed up the start of the Four Hills Tournament and has to watch the first competition in Oberstdorf. Geiger didn’t get past 106.5 meters in the qualification and ended up in 53rd place.

Philipp Raimund, on the other hand, achieved a respectable success and finished the qualification in second place. In addition to Raimund, Felix Hoffmann (12th), Pius Paschke (21st), Andreas Wellinger (39th), Constantin Schmid (44th) and Luca Roth (46th) are also qualified for the final of the best 50 athletes on Monday from 4.30 p.m.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (December 31/January 1, 2026)

The New Year’s jumping on the large Olympic ski jump in Garmisch Partenkirchen is cult. More than 25,000 visitors will arrive again. On January 1st, 2025, the Austrian Michael Hayböck jumped a hill record of 145 meters. The tour dates of the 74th edition:

• December 31st, 4 p.m.: Qualification
• January 1, 2025, 2 p.m.: 1st round

Innsbruck (January 3/4, 2026)

The Bergisel ski jump has not exactly been the scene of German success on the tour in recent years. In general, the ski jump in Innsbruck is very unforgiving and is susceptible to wind. In the history of the tour, she has shaken up the rankings several times.

Here too, Michael Hayböck holds the hill record: 138 meters, set on January 4th, 2015. The tour dates for Innsbruck for the 74th edition:

• January 3rd, 1:30 p.m.: Qualification
• January 4th, 1:30 p.m.: 1st round of the competition

Bischofshofen (January 5/6, 2026)

On the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen – embedded in nature at the foot of the Hochkönig – the Pole Dawid Kubacki holds the record with 145 meters, jumped in 2019. The tour dates in Bischofshofen for the 74th edition:

• January 5th from 4:30 p.m.: Qualification
• January 6th from 4:30 p.m.: 1st round of the competition

TV broadcast of the Four Hills Tournament

The 74th Four Hills Tournament will be broadcast live by public broadcasters and Eurosport. The ARD shows the competitions from Oberstdorf and Bischofshofen, the ZDF shows the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the third station from Innsbruck.

Ko-System and Lucky Loser

Unlike other World Cups, the first round of the four competitions of the Four Hills Tournament is held in a knockout system. The 50 qualified jumpers compete against each other in 1:1 duels: the first to qualify meets the last, the second meets the second to last and so on.

The winners of the 25 duels and the five losers with the highest points, the so-called lucky losers, make it to the final round.

Favorites of the 74th Four Hills Tournament

The top favorite is the 26-year-old Slovenian Domen Prevc, leader of the overall World Cup. He won five of the last six World Cup competitions and came second once. The first pursuer in the overall World Cup is the three-time tour winner Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan, who won the last competition before Christmas in Engelberg. The Slovenian Anze Lanisek is also one of the candidates for victory. The Austrians around Kraft and defending champion Tschofenig are among the favorites.

From a German perspective, in addition to Philipp Raimund, Felix Hoffmann also recently showed that he can jump to the front: In Engelberg he came second and third. Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger, on the other hand, are fighting for the connection this winter, recently took a break from the World Cup, but are returning to the tour. But they are not among the favorites.

Trophies and prize money

The overall winner receives the prestigious Golden Eagle and a prize of 100,000 euros. The usual World Cup prize money from the Fis World Association is paid out at every competition; The best 30 athletes in each competition receive money based on their placement. A qualifying win is rewarded with 3175 euros.

Four Hills Tournament 2024/25

The trio of Daniel Tschofenig, Jan Hörl and Stefan Kraft completed an Austrian triple victory at the 73rd Four Hills Tournament. It was a thriller: With the last jump of the final competition in Bischofshofen, veteran Kraft fell from first to third place in the daily and overall rankings. The 22-year-old Tschofenig finally raised the Golden Eagle to the sky for overall victory.

The German ski jumpers had less fun. In the overall ranking, Pius Paschke took sixth place as the best of the team, Andreas Wellinger came eleventh, Karl Geiger 17th and Philipp Raimund 22nd.

The best: Janne Ahonen ahead of Jens Weißflog

Finn Janne Ahonen was the only ski jumper to win the Four Hills Tournament five times (between 1999 and 2008). He is followed by Jens Weißflog, who triumphed four times – his last victory was almost exactly 30 years ago (1995/96).

The Norwegian Björn Wirkola, the first German winner Helmut Recknagel, the Pole Kamil Stoch and the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi each won three times, with Wirkola winning three times in a row in the 1960s and also achieving two second places and one third place.

Stoch and Kobayashi equaled Sven Hannawald with an overall victory thanks to successes on all four hills. With his success in 2001/02, Hannawald is also the last German winner of the Four Hills Tournament to date.