After a long wait, the path to the Four Hills Tournament for female ski jumpers is clear. For the 75th men’s edition, the women will also appear at all four tour locations in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen starting in the 2026/27 season.
This was made possible by an agreement between the Austrian Ski Association and the state of Tyrol to finance a new floodlight system at the Bergisel Stadium in Innsbruck. It is this requirement that is by far the biggest obstacle to the integration of women’s competitions.
All ski jumping tours are equipped with spotlights
This means the 2026/27 75th Four Hills Tournament will go down in history. It’s great that this final question mark has now been removed, tour president Manfred Schützenhofer said in a statement.
As all four ski jumping tours will be equipped with floodlights in the future, those in charge around Fis race director Sandro Pertile and local organizing committees will have more leeway to integrate women’s competition into the tour program, he said.
Last winter, Pertile also stated that the women’s and men’s World Cups should also be held in parallel at the same location from next season. The calendar has been adjusted little by little over the past few years.
Women’s competition on men’s qualifying day
Currently, women’s competitions must be held on men’s qualifying days at all tour locations. This already happened in Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the women’s two-night tour.
Also this winter, the world’s best female ski jumpers will compete for victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on December 31 from 1pm, while men’s qualifying will take place from 4pm. Katharina Schmid and Co. will complete their second competition on January 1 in Oberstdorf.
The two-night tour organized by the German Ski Association, SC Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf Ski Club, which took place for the third time this winter, paved the way for a joint Four Hills Tournament for men and women.
