Four Hills Tournament 1971/72

20th Four Hills Tournament
winner
Tour winner	Ingolf Mork
innsbruck	Yukio Kasaya
Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Yukio Kasaya
Oberstdorf	Yukio Kasaya
Bischofshofen	Bjørn Wirkola
Attendees
Nations	17 ( AUT , BUL , CAN , FIN , FRA , FRG , GDR , HUN , ITA , JPN , NOR , POL , SWE , SUI , TCH , URS , YUG )
athlete	97
← 1970/71	1972/73 →

The 20th Four Hills Tournament 1971/72 took place in a slightly different form. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the tour, the prestigious ski jumping event started on December 29th at Bergisel in Innsbruck . As usual, the New Year's competition took place on January 1st in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . The next day, on January 2nd, the jumping took place in Oberstdorf . As usual, the last competition in Bischofshofen took place on January 6th. The Japanese Yukio Kasaya won the first three competitions of the tour and was considered the favorite for the overall victory, but, as agreed, he returned home before the fourth competition to prepare for the Olympic Games there , which he also won.

Nominee athletes

• Olympic champion 1968 : Jiří Raška normal hill (TCH); Large hill Vladimir Belousov (URS)
• participating tour winners:

• Bjorn Wirkola (NOR) ( 1966/67 , 1967/68 , 1968/69 ); Jiří Raška (TCH) 1970/71

In preparation for the Olympic Winter Games in Sapporro, the tour was the first assessment of the international ski jumping community. Almost a hundred athletes from 17 countries came to the anniversary tour. Only the USA was missing from the previous participating countries, but Bulgaria was able to welcome a new participating country. Six teams alone came with eight jumpers, including the Japanese, who were missing the previous year. They were the big stranger, but it was already clear beforehand that they would leave for the internal Olympic qualification after the third competition in Oberstdorf. The favorites included the Norwegians around last year's second and current Holmenkollen winner Ingolf Mork and the comeback three-time winner Björn Wirkola. Other favorites were the Czechoslovaks around last year's winner Jiří Raška and the Soviet jumpers around double world champion Gari Napalkow, who were missing last year due to illness. After the disappointing tour of the previous year, there had been some changes in the GDR camp. After the misunderstanding of Ernst Tallowitz as the selection trainer, the DLSV appointed Dieter Neuendorf, a successful ski jumper of the past few days, as the new association selection trainer for jumping. With the touring experienced Rainer and Heinz Schmidt as well as Christian Kiehl, three jumpers were promptly nominated again who had not been considered in the previous year. For the first time, the reigning ski flying world record holder Manfred Wolf was in the eight-man GDR squad. Coach Neuendorf had to do without the tour winner of 69/70 Horst Queck, who fell badly in the spring of 1971 in Štrbské Pleso and had to undergo knee surgery, which ultimately meant the end of his career in 1972.

nation	Athletes
BR Germany	Alfred Grosche , Franz Keller , Günther Göllner , Ernst Wursthorn , Sepp Schwinghammer , Alfred Winkler , Ralph Pöhland , Bernd Zapf
GDR	Christian Kiehl , Heinz Schmidt , Henry Glass , Rainer Schmidt , Heinz Wosipiwo , Hans-Georg Aschenbach , Manfred Wolf , Dietmar Aschenbach
Austria	Max Golser , Reinhold Bachler , Ernst Kröll , Franz Salhofer , Walter Schwabl , Rudi Wanner , Karl Schnabl , Hans Millonig
Bulgaria	Ivan Sandov
Finland	Jouko Törmänen , Tauno Käyhkö , Kari Ylianttila , Esko Rautionaho
France	Alain Macle , Gilbert Poirot , Jacques Gaillard , Ivan Richard
Italy	Albino Bazzana , Mario Cecon , Bruno Patti , Gelindo Fogliaresi
Japan	Yukio Kasaya , Takashi Fujisawa , Seiji Aochi , Hiroshi Itagaki , Hisayoshi Sawada , Akitsugu Konno , Mineyuki Mashiko
Yugoslavia	Marjan Mesec , Peter Štefančič , Ludvik Zajc , Drago Pudgar , Bogdan Norčič , Danilo Pudgar , Marian Prelovsek
Canada	Peter Wilson , Ulf Kvendbo , Rick Gulyas , Zdenek Mezl
Norway	Bent Tomtum , Ingolf Mork , Frithjof Prydz , Jo Inge Bjørnebye , Lars Grini , Nils-Per Skarseth , Björn Wirkola , Odd Hammernes
Poland	Ryszard Witke , Stanisław Gąsienica Daniel , Adam Krzysztofiak , Tadeusz Pawlusiak , Wojciech Fortuna , Slawomir Kardas
Sweden	Eilert Mähler , Tommy Eriksson , Rolf Nordgren , Anders Lundqvist
Switzerland	Hans Schmid , Sepp Zehnder , Walter Steiner , Ernst von Grünigen , Eric Aubert
Soviet Union	Yuri Kalinin , Anatoli Scheglanow , Gari Napalkow , Koba Zakadze , Alexander Ivannikow , Vladimir Terichev , Sergei Janin
Czechoslovakia	Jiří Raška , Rudolf Höhnl , Zbyněk Hubač , Bohumil Doležal , Josef Matouš , Karel Kodejška , Leoš Škoda , Jaromír Liďák
Hungary	Mihály Gellér , Antal Jambo , László Gellér

innsbruck

• Date: December 29, 1971
• Country: Austria 
• Ski jump: Bergisel ski jump

The first jump on the Bergisel confirmed what the experts had suspected in advance. The Japanese presented themselves in top form before their Olympic Games and had their best man in Kasaya, who won the day with jumps of 94.5 and 91.5 with good posture marks. With Fujisawa in seventh place, another Japanese came into the top ten. The strong team performance of the Soviet jumpers was not surprising either, although no one had expected the junior Kalinin in fifth place. The strength of the Finn Tauno Käyhkö was not surprising, but the team performance of the GDR jumpers was. After a rather disappointing tour of the previous year, the team under the new coach Dieter Neuendorf found its way back to its old strength and placed four jumpers in the top ten. While Rainer Schmidt's second place did not come as a complete surprise, the placements of Glaß (4th) and newcomer Wosipiwo (6th) were remarkable. The losers at the start of the tour were undoubtedly the Czechoslovaks, whose best jumpers Hubac and Raska came in on Paltz 11 and 12, but lacked the team strength of last year. The Norwegians, who had their best man in 16th place in Bjoerneby, experienced a real crash. Last year's winner Mork in 22nd place, Wirkola only 44th, that was undoubtedly a big surprise.

Item	Jumper	country	Points
01	Yukio Kasaya	Japan	245.2
02	Rainer Schmidt	GDR	235.5
03	Tauno Käyhkö	Finland	229.9
04th	Henry Glass	GDR	225.4
05	Yuri Kalinin	Soviet Union	224.6
06th	Heinz Wosipiwo	GDR	223.7
07th	Takashi Fujisawa	Japan	222.7
08th	Gari Napalkov	Soviet Union	222.4
09	Heinz Schmidt	GDR	220.0
09	Anatoly Scheglanov	Soviet Union	220.0

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

• Date: January 1, 1972
• Country: BR Germany 
• Hill: Large Olympic hill

Kasaya was also able to win the New Year's competition. This time the lead over the next placed jumper was even bigger, as the Japanese jumped the highest distance in both rounds, and that with very good grades of posture. He was followed by the Finn Käyhkö, who for a long time had justified hopes of a Finnish victory for the day or even overall, as coach Eijo Kirjonen reported in an interview. Käyhkö was able to relegate the regained Ingolf Mork to third place in the second round. In general, the Norwegians were able to rehabilitate themselves to some extent in Garmisch, old master Wirkola in eighth place and two other jumpers among the top twenty showed that the Scandinavians had not forgotten how to jump. But the measure of all things was the Japanese, who put a total of four jumpers in the top ten. With Henry Glaß and the surprisingly strong Heinz Wosipiwo in the top ten, two GDR jumpers also kept up. In the overall standings, a tight crowd developed behind the lost Kasaya, with only 2.8 points between third and sixth place.

Intermediate result after 2 jumps
Item	Jumper	Points
01.	Kasaya	488.1
02.	Käyhkö	459.1
03.	R. Schmidt	446.8
04th	Wosipiwo	446.2
05.	Fujisawa	445.2
06th	Glass	444.0

Item	Jumper	country	Points
01	Yukio Kasaya	Japan	242.9
02	Tauno Käyhkö	Finland	229.2
03	Ingolf Mork	Norway	227.5
04th	Heinz Wosipiwo	GDR	225.5
05	Takashi Fujisawa	Japan	222.5
06th	Seiji Aochi	Japan	222.2
07th	Hiroshi Itagaki	Japan	221.4
08th	Henry Glass	GDR	218.6
08th	Bjorn Wirkola	Norway	218.6
10	Anatoly Scheglanov	Soviet Union	218.3

Oberstdorf

• Date: January 2, 1972
• Country: BR Germany 
• Hill: Schattenbergschanze

Kasaya also won the third competition, which this time, unusually, took place on the day after the New Year’s competition. However, this time the Japanese had a lot more trouble to win the day because Ingolf Mork made his life difficult with two jumps of 84 m each. In the end, the better posture marks decided for the Japanese, who won by 1.4 points. Behind them - somewhat surprisingly - the Swiss Hans Schmid took third place. Since the Finn Käyhkö did not make it into the top ten this time, Ingolf Mork took the lead, as the overall leader Kasaya would be leaving as we know. However, Mork only led a very thin with 1.2 points. So nothing was decided in the battle for the overall standings.

Intermediate result after 3 jumps
Item	Jumper	Points
01.	Kasaya	736.0
02.	Mork	685.6
03.	Käyhkö	684.4
04th	R. Schmidt	676.5
05.	Kalinin	672.7
06th	Glass	668.6

Item	Jumper	country	Points
01	Yukio Kasaya	Japan	247.9
02	Ingolf Mork	Norway	246.5
03	Hans Schmid	Switzerland	235.4
04th	Yuri Kalinin	Soviet Union	233.6
05	Esko Rautionaho	Finland	232.1
06th	Hiroshi Itagaki	Japan	231.3
07th	Rainer Schmidt	GDR	229.7
08th	Gari Napalkov	Soviet Union	228.3
09	Günther Göllner	BR Germany	226.8
10	Hans-Georg Aschenbach	GDR	226.5

Bischofshofen

• Date: January 6, 1972
• Country: Austria 
• Hill: Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze

After the Japanese team had left for their home country after the Oberstdorfer Jumping as agreed, the outcome of the tour was completely open, the gaps were too close. In addition, because of the enormous shortage of snow in Europe, Bischofshofen was the last chance for many jumpers to recommend themselves for the Olympic Games. An expression of this situation was an incredible 44 jumps over 100 meters compared to 11 in the previous year. So the jumpers were willing to risk a lot and that led to some surprises. If the extremely close win of the day by old master Wirkola was not to be expected, the Czechoslovaks surprised even more. Until then, completely below value, no top ten placement in the previous three competitions, the men around Jiří Raška ran back to their old class and took second, third and tenth place. Even the Soviet jumpers did not want to leave the field without a fight. Your best placed jumper Juri Kalinin would have been good for a surprise if he had made his jump of 104.5m. So it was with oldie Koba Zakadze, who at 37 years of age again achieved a top ten placement. The young GDR jumpers Hans-Georg Aschenbach and Henry Glaß were also able to place respectably in the tight competition, in which there was not even ten points between first and tenth place, which pushed Glaß enormously forward in the overall standings. The Finn Käyhkö wanted too much in the end and took a 31st place for a possible tour victory. There was also a conciliatory end to the tour for the badly battered team from Austria, which had been jumping behind the competition for years. Reinhold Bachler's fifth place was the best daily result in a long time.

Item	Jumper	country	Points
01	Bjørn Wirkola	Norway	233.6
02	Jiří Raška	Czechoslovakia	233.0
03	Zbyněk Hubač	Czechoslovakia	229.5
04th	Ingolf Mork	Norway	229.0
05	Reinhold Bachler	Austria	228.8
06th	Hans-Georg Aschenbach	GDR	226.1
07th	Walter Steiner	Switzerland	225.7
07th	Koba Zakadze	Soviet Union	225.7
09	Henry Glass	GDR	225.0
10	Rudolf Höhnl	Czechoslovakia	224.9

Total status

In addition to a changed order of the competition venues, the anniversary tour also had a memorable course and outcome. So far, unique in the course of the tour, an overall leader, leading by a large margin after three daily victories, voluntarily surrendered the overall ranking in order to prepare for the Olympic Games at home. Ultimately, however, the reward and consolation for Kasaya were the two Olympic gold medals. Ingolf Mork, who was second in the previous year, benefited from this and was ultimately able to win the tour by some margin. But only because in Bischofshofen the overall ranking was turned upside down again. While Mork secured the overall victory with fifth place, Käyhkö was not rewarded for his willingness to take risks and was pushed out of second place by Henry Glass. Since his teammates Wosipiwo and Hans-Georg Aschenbach also ended up in the top ten, the GDR team was ultimately the strongest team alongside the Soviet Union, an outcome that could not necessarily be expected. Since the old masters and dominant jumpers of recent years, Raška and Wirkola, once again demonstrated their skills in the last competition, they also slipped into the top ten. For the Czechoslovaks, however, little consolation, who could not build on their performance from the previous year.

rank	Surname	nation	Overall rating	Inns- Bruckhaus	Garmisch- Partenk.	Colonel village	Episcopate hofen
01	Ingolf Mork	Norway	914.6	211.6 / 22.	227.5 / 03.	246.5 / 02.	229.0 / 05.
02	Henry Glass	GDR	893.6	225.4 / 04.	218.6 / 09.	224.6 / 13.	225.0 / 09.
03	Tauno Käyhkö	Finland	892.3	229.9 / 03.	229.2 / 02.	225.3 / 12.	207.9 / 31.
04th	Heinz Wosipiwo	GDR	888.8	223.7 / 06.	222.5 / 04.	217.9 / 22.	224.7 / 11.
05	Yuri Kalinin	Soviet Union	886.4	224.6 / 05.	214.5 / 16.	233.6 / 04.	213.7 / 21.
06th	Jiří Raška	Czechoslovakia	877.0	218.4 / 12.	209.5 / 32.	216.1 / 25.	233.0 / 02.
07th	Hans-Georg Aschenbach	GDR	872.0	205.4 / 35.	214.0 / 18.	226.5 / 10.	226.1 / 06.
08th	Koba Zakadze	Soviet Union	872.0	212.3 / 19.	215.8 / 13.	218.2 / 20.	225.7 / 07.
09	Gari Napalkov	Soviet Union	869.8	222.4 / 08.	211.4 / 26.	228.3 / 08.	207.7 / 32.
10	Bjorn Wirkola	Norway	869.3	201.1 / 44.	218.6 / 08.	215.9 / 27.	233.6 / 01.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Yukio Kasaya in the Munzinger archive , accessed on May 18, 2013 ( beginning of article freely accessible)
2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 27, 1971 p. 5
3. ↑ ND of December 30, 1971 p. 5
4. ↑ ^{a b} Norwegian Mork is now tour favorite . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 4th 1972, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
5. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 2, 1972 p. 8
6. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 3, 1972 p. 14
7. ↑ ^{a b} Mork took his chance . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 8, 1972, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
8. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 7, 1972 p. 5
9. ↑ data.fis-ski.com
10. ↑ data.fis-ski.com
11. ↑ data.fis-ski.com
12. ↑ data.fis-ski.com