1953 Four Hills Tournament
The inaugural Four Hills tournament was held in January 1953. It was in planning since 1949, but in the post-war years German athletes were not allowed to compete internationally. The organizers were German and Austrian ski jumpers who knew each other from competing together for Germany under the Nazi regime
At the time, ski jumping was an amateur sport and the winners were given material prizes like portable radios or cooking pots.
The first competition was held on New Year's day, making it the only Four Hills tournament that did not start in December, although the New Year's day competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen would eventually become traditional.
Participating nations and athletes
| Nation | Number of Athletes | Athletes |
| 14 | Hermann Anwander, Friedl Brandner, Toni Brutscher, Franz Dengg, Franz Eder, Toni Eisgruber, Robert Engel, Willi Fischer, Willy Gotthold, Sepp Hohenleitner, Hans Karg, Heini Klopfer, Toni Landenhammer, Sepp Weiler | |
| 8 | Sepp Bradl, Rudi Dietrich, Ferdi Kerber, Albin Plank, Fritz Rüpp, Erwin Steinegger, Walter Steinegger, Toni Wieser | |
| 3 | Asgeir Dølplads, Erling Kroken, Halvor Næs | |
| 4 | Harry Bergquist, Karl Holmström, Toivo Lauren, Axel-Hermann Nilsson | |
| 1 | Fritz Schneider | |
| 3 | Karel Klančnik, Janez Polda, Jože Zidar |
Results
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
, Garmisch-Partenkirchen01 January 1953
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 |  Asgeir Dølplads | 221.5 |
| 2 |  Sepp Bradl | 220.5 |
| 3 |  Toni Brutscher | 219.5 |
| 4 | Halvor Næs | 218.5 |
| 5 |  Toivo Lauren | 215.0 |
| 6 | Sepp Weiler | 212.5 |
| 7 | Sepp Hohenleitner | 209.5 |
| 8 | Erling Kroken | 209.0 |
| 9 | Walter Steinegger | 204.5 |
| 10 | Franz Dengg | 198.0 |
Oberstorf
, Oberstorf04 January 1953
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Erling Kroken | 217.0 |
| 2 | Sepp Bradl | 215.5 |
| 3 | Asgeir Dølplads | 215.0 |
| 4 | Halvor Næs | 214.5 |
| 5 | Karl Holmström | 213.0 |
| 5 | Sepp Weiler | 213.0 |
| 7 | Toni Brutscher | 212.0 |
| 8 | Toivo Lauren | 211.5 |
| 9 | Franz Eder | 210.0 |
| 9 | Sepp Hohenleitner | 210.0 |
| 9 | Walter Steinegger | 210.0 |
Innsbruck
, Innsbruck06 January 1953
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Sepp Bradl | 224.0 |
| 2 | Asgeir Dølplads | 223.0 |
| 3 | Harry Bergquist | 219.0 |
| 4 | Halvor Næs | 216.5 |
| 5 | Sepp Hohenleitner | 215.0 |
| 6 | Karl Holmström | 213.5 |
| 7 | Toni Brutscher | 212.0 |
| 8 |  Janez Polda | 211.5 |
| 9 | Toivo Lauren | 209.5 |
| 10 |  Fritz Schneider | 209.0 |
| 10 | Sepp Weiler | 209.0 |
Bischofshofen
, Bischofshofen11 January 1953
Before the last event, Sepp Bradl was leading the tournament ranking by only half a point ahead of Asgeir Dølplads, who in turn had a ten-point lead to fellow Norwegian Halvor Næs. In the competition however, it was Næs rather than Dølplads who put Bradl's tournament victory in danger. Winning the Bischofshofen event clearly, he reduced the distance to Bradl from 10.5 to 1.1 points but ultimately could not prevent him from becoming the first Four Hills winner.
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 | Halvor Næs | 228.0 |
| 2 | Sepp Bradl | 218.6 |
| 3 | Harry Bergquist | 216.4 |
| 4 | Franz Eder | 210.7 |
| 5 | Sepp Weiler | 209.4 |
| 6 | Karl Holmström | 208.6 |
| 7 | Asgeir Dølplads | 208.3 |
| 8 | Toivo Lauren | 207.9 |
| 9 | Erling Kroken | 205.3 |
| 10 | Janez Polda | 204.3 |
Final Ranking
| Rank | Name | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Oberstorf | Innsbruck | Bischofshofen | Points |
| 1 | Sepp Bradl | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 878.6 |
| 2 | Halvor Næs | 4th | 4th | 4th | 1st | 877.5 |
| 3 | Asgeir Dølplads | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 7th | 867.5 |
| 4 | Toni Brutscher | 3rd | 7th | 7th | 12th | 847.0 |
| 5 | Toivo Lauren | 5th | 8th | 9th | 8th | 843.9 |
| 5 | Sepp Weiler | 6th | 5th | 11th | 5th | 843.9 |
| 7 | Sepp Hohenleitner | 7th | 9th | 5th | 14th | 827.7 |
| 8 | Walter Steinegger | 9th | 9th | 13th | 11th | 822.9 |
| 9 | Karl Holmström | 17th | 5th | 6th | 6th | 813.6 |
| 10 | Erling Kroken | 8th | 1st | N/A | 9th | 631.3 |