The ski jump in Innsbruck is getting floodlights. This means that nothing stands in the way of a women’s Four Hills Tournament from 2026/27.
The ski jumpers have been campaigning for their own Four Hills Tournament for years. The wait is probably over now.
The Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) and the state of Tyrol have agreed to finance a floodlight system in the Bergisel Stadium. Therefore, according to tour president Manfred Schützenhofer (Bischofshofen Ski Club), the way is clear for a Four Hills Tournament in which the world’s best ski jumpers can also take part.
Four Hills Tournament: All jumps with floodlights
“This is fantastic news and exactly the signal we have been waiting for for so long. This means that the 75th Four Hills Tournament 2026/27 will go down in history. It’s great that this last question mark has now been eliminated. Thank you to everyone who made this possible“, says Schützenhofer.
Since all four tour ski jumps will be equipped with floodlights in the future, those responsible around FIS race director Sandro Pertile and the local organizing committees will have more leeway for integrating the women’s competitions into the tour program.
Ski jumping competition of the women on the men’s quality day
As of today, the women’s competitions are scheduled to take place on the men’s qualification day at all tour locations, as has been successfully done in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the past two years. This winter, too, the world’s best female ski jumpers will take to the Olympic ski jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on qualification day; they will compete on December 31st from 1 p.m., before the men’s qualification, which begins at 4 p.m.
Last winter, Sandro Pertile declared as part of the Four Hills Tournament that the women’s and men’s ski jumping World Cup should take place in parallel at the same locations from the 2026/27 season. “It is excellent that we can now meet these requirements“, explains Michael Maurer, chairman of the Partenkirchen Ski Club (SCP). Women and men jump at the Four Hills Tournament in the same order as the men: Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.
2-night tour as a pioneer
So far there has only been a 2-night tour for women at the German Four Hills Tournament locations of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf. This will take place for the third time this winter, before the Four Hills Tournament for men and women takes place for the first time next winter.