Nordic Skiing65. Vierschanzentournee
Getty Images
Thursday, December 29, with the qualification to the Oberstdorf competition, will kick off the 65th edition of the Tour of the 4 trampolines, the 'now legendary event on January 6th in Bischofshofen will crown a new winner after nine intense days.
Tuesday 27 December 2016 18 minutes reading time
The GENESIS 'idea of ​​a demonstration that included four rounds in rapid succession on as many different trampolines, with final ranking determined by the sum of the scores all the jumps, was already developed in 1949 by the ski club Partenkirchen and Innsbruck.
However dell''epoca political situation (the German sport was the subject of an embargo) dell''evento prevented the realization that he had to wait until 1952 to see the light with the name of "Tour of German-Austrian ski jumping."
The chosen location to host competitions were Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany; Innsbruck and Bischofshofen in Austria.
The Tour was an immediate big response from the public, so much so that in 1956 the ARD and Bayerischer Rundfunk television stations began to transmit it.
Over the years' 60s and '70s the' importance and popularity dell''evento, unique of its kind in the panorama winter sports grew exponentially. Because at that time the Tour was one of the rare opportunities for discussion at the international level among all the jumpers (the World Cup are in fact born in 1979).
Over the decades, the success of Vierschanzentournee remained unchanged, while his charm and prestige have grown so much that the conquest of the event is considered a prestige equal to that of an Olympic gold or crystal ball.
There have been many attempts to imitate both within the ski jump and as part of outright winter disciplines. But success was only partially replicated with the Tour de Ski, and various clones or appointments to it inspired were short-lived.
Because? Hard to say. In the Tour there is something irrational and mystical that can not be replicated in any way and that makes it unique by definition.
 LEADERS HISTORICAL sixty Tournée been staged so far have been won by 47 jumpers, belonging to 8 different movements.
The absolute record holder in terms of success in the final standings was the Finn Janne Ahonen, the only athlete in history to have won 5 editions (1998 - '' 99, 2002 - '' 03, 2004 - '' 05, 2005 - '' 06 and 2007 - '' 08).
The German Jens Weißflog has "stopped" at 4, but holds the record for longevity as it was able to impose itself 12 years after the first statement. It is in fact imposed nineteen in 1983 - '' 84 and, having made their also editions in 1984 - '' 85 and 1990 - '' 91, has also won thirty-one Financo the Tournèe 1995 - '' 96.
Norway's Bjørn Wirkola instead belongs the distinction of winning streak. Scandinavian is the only man to have won three Tour in a row (1966 - '' 67, 1967 - '' 68 and 1968 - '' 69).
Among the myths of the Tour is also included German dell''Est Helmut Recknagel, the first jumper in history to repeat a success in the event (1957 - '' 58 and 1958 - '' 59), as well as to meet the quota of three statements ( having also imposed in 1960 - '' 61).
In addition to the four just mentioned, no one else has achieved three victories. Seven have won two editions and thirty-five have won one.
Finally it can not be forgotten German Sven Hannawald, today the 'only athlete in history to be able to achieve the "Grand Slam", or to get your hands on a Tournèe winning all 4 races scheduled. The 'unprecedented event occurred in 2001 -' '02.
 WINNERS IN BUSINESS 'Among the jumpers in business, are in seven to have already won at least edition of the Tour:
5 - Janne Ahonen (FIN) [1998-'99, 2002'-03, 2004-'05, 2005-'06, 2007-'08] 2 - SCHLIERENZAUER Gregor (AUT) [2011-'12, 2012-'13 ] 1 - JANDA Jakub (CZE) [2005-'06] 1 - KOFLER Andreas (AUT) [2009-'10] 1 - Diethart Thomas (AUT) [2013-'14] 1 - KRAFT Stefan (AUT) [2014- '15] 1 - PREVC Peter (SLO) [2015-'16]
N.B. : Ahonen and Janda won the Tour in 2005-'06 ex aequo. Unique case in the success story a dead heat.
NATIONS Historical jump superpowers stand on skis, of course, in the ranking of countries with the most wins. To the truth between them there is great balance because today the head of the list command to see a trio of nations.
16 - GERMANY (DDR 12 + 1 + 1 FRG GER) 16 - 16 FINLAND - AUSTRIA 10 - 02 NORWAY - CZECH REPUBLIC (1 + 1 CEC CZE) 02 - 01 SLOVENIA - POLAND 01 - 01 JAPAN - SOVIET UNION
* Despite the disputed Tour are 64, they are credited with 65 hits. This is because nell''edizione 2005 - '' 06 there was the 'incredible case of former aequo between Janne Ahonen and Jakub Janda. The two closed by the same score, and both were declared winners.
Regarding the three countries leading the ranking must remark that the German movement is currently experiencing fasting longest in its history, since the last statement dates from 2001-'02.
In the following years we have seen achieved from Finland, now mired in a terrible crisis, and Austria thanks to the spectacular Filotto unprecedented seven consecutive victories from 2008-'09 and 2014-'15 has moved from the status of fourth historical force that of hegemonic power in the space of little more than five years.
 THE FAVORITES OF THE 65th EDITION As seen in the first part of the season, at the start of the 65th edition of Vierschanzentournee the favorites are named Domen Prevc and Daniel-Andre Tande.
For Slovenian talk numbers: four wins and five podiums in seven races. Currently the teen Kranj is in a state of grace and has been shown to be able to speak to an unattainable level for (almost) everyone.
That "almost" is precisely the Norwegian, who until now has objectively collected less than it could have. Three second places are no small booty, but to the state of the form put light on display so far are close to twenty-two of Narvik. In truth the Scandinavian often has been unlucky with the weather and therefore has a claim with the good fortune that, if it were to be paid at the right time, it could make a difference.
So in a hypothetical grid Domen Prevc starts from pole-position and Tande snaps at his side from the front row. The second row is occupied by Kamil Stoch and Stefan Kraft. Not necessarily in that order.
Stage Ruka aside, the Polish seems to have found the enamel of the best times and therefore has everything to win an event with which, however, up to now has had little feeling even in his best years. To obtain it really you will then be able to reverse the negative trend with the appointment.
The Austrian instead knows how to win the Tour, having embraced one of two winters ago. The solidity makes no defect, as witnessed by the fact of being the only jumper to have finished in the top-ten all the races go on stage from late November onwards. Twenty-four months makes his early-season performance was not very different from that of the past few weeks, so it will followed with great attention.
In the third row we have a trio of outsiders. It is actually a superstar who for one reason or another are going through a difficult time. They are also the three men on the podium in the final standings of last year.
Peter Prevc, winner of the 64th Vierschanzentournee, ruler of vintage racing ever in 2015-'16 and higher Domen brother, seemed to have started the winter from the same spot where he had concluded that past. Ie from the undisputed leader of the circuit.
However, the fall in the second series of the first race of Ruka has probably created cracks in his jump system, then turned themselves in cracks due to repeated uncertainties in landing on subsequent competitions and finally become real flaws due to a new fall in Engelberg.
The impression is that the twenty-four of Kranj right now lacks confidence. We'll find out only when So if he recovered the lost security. If so, then it would be a serious candidate for the title. Otherwise it could not be competitive in any way.
For Slovene the trend is negative, but with the ability to turn any moment. In fact, who has progressively grown yield from late November onwards is Michael Hayböck. If the positive trend should also be continued in the break between Engelberg and the beginning of the Tour, then we must focus strongly on the Austrian twenty-five, that in the last two years has always closed on the podium the final standings of the event (second in 2014- ' 15 and third in 2015-'16).
Different speech for Severin Freund, who after a great start in Ruka has seen its yield drop. Probably the hip operation suffered in the spring and the long recovery period have left the slag still not entirely disposed of. For it is so hard to think of a sudden return to the glories of the recent past, but at the start should be granted the chance of at least noblesse oblige.
Watch the Tour go to a different jumper from the "Magnificent Seven" mentioned so far would be a big surprise. Maciej Kot, Markus Eisenbichler and manuel fettner are disputing the best season of their career, but do not seem to have the thickness to be able to win the final victory. Conversely those who in the past that thickness had it, see Simon Ammann and Andreas Kofler, he appears to have lost it permanently.
However, never say never. Besides, three years ago, on the eve of the Tour, anyone who bet on Thomas Diethart would be taken for a madman. A couple of weeks later he would instead become a wealthy visionary.
SYSTEM KO A unique feature of Vierschanzentournee is to have competitions that unless the force majeure, are played with KO system. This format, designed to give greater importance to the qualification, was introduced in the mid 90s and since then never left.
The start list of the first competition series has not been completed by reversing the overall standings of the World Cup, but based on the result of the qualification, the result of which is used to determine 25 direct confrontation where each jumper faces an opponent according to the board:
26 ° vs. 25 ° 27 ° vs. 24 ° 28 ° vs. 23 ° 29 ° vs. 22 ° and so on up to ... 48 ° vs. 3 ° 49 ° 50 ° vs vs 2 ° 1 °
Accessing the second set, and then the points, the winners of each direct confrontation plus five fished (improperly called lucky losers), or the five athletes with the highest score among the losers. Therefore, theoretically it can be in the 30 without having one of the top thirty absolute performance, or vice versa.
The system-KO makes qualifying even in the jumps of the top 10 of the overall standings of the World Cup are evaluated.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Social media engagement
Più letti in Sport invernali
Il derby azzurro nei quarti di finale del KW Fall Classic è di Spiller e compagni: battuto il Team Retornaz
Curling: la fase finale del torneo internazionale di Waterloo vede la compagine trentina di Cesare e Stefano Spiller, Amos Mosaner e Sebastiano Arman volare in semifinale. Ko di misura contro King per il Team Zisa.
2