70 Years of Tradition Lost: This Competition Will Disappear from the Four Hills Tournament

The Four Hills Tournament has moved to Austria. In Innsbruck, Stefan Kraft emerged victorious ahead of his compatriots Jan Hoerl and Daniel Tschofenig. Poland's Paweł Wąsek showed a great performance, finishing in 5th place. This competition could potentially be a historic one.

For many years, the New Year's competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the follow-up in Innsbruck took place in the early morning hours in natural daylight. These legendary jumping hills lacked artificial lighting, which restricted start times. Over time, this inconvenience became a tradition, especially as the number of events held in daylight continued to decline. Daytime events are less attractive for the FIS, while evening hours are more advantageous for broadcasting rights.

Seventy years and that's it. There will be no daytime competition in Innsbruck.

After renovations, the German site in Ga-Pa broke away from tradition, leaving Innsbruck as the only hill in the Four Hills Tournament without artificial lighting. It seems likely that this will soon change, as Saturday's event was probably the last held at this time of day.

According to plans, the Bergisel jump is set to gain artificial lighting, thus changing the timing of the competitions. This is indicated by the draft calendar for the World Cup season 2025/2026 published by the FIS. This was also confirmed last year by Sandro Pertile in an interview. "Probably starting from the 2025/2026 season, Bergisel in Innsbruck will be equipped with artificial lighting. This will allow us to start competitions at 4:30 PM when strong winds usually increase," he said at the time.

It is worth noting that the calendar has not been officially confirmed, and plans for lighting installations at the Innsbruck jumping hill have been around for years. However, it seems that this marks the end of a 70-year tradition.