1968–69 Four Hills Tournament
# 1968–69 Four Hills Tournament

In 1969, Norwegian Bjørn Wirkola became the first person to win the Four Hills Tournament three times in a row. He was the fifth athlete to win the first three events, but yet again the 'Grand Slam' was denied, this time by Wirkola's closest rival Jiří Raška. It was a disappointing tournament for the two host nations with the best athlete from either being Reinhold Bachler, finishing 11th overall.

## Participating nations and athletes

For the first time in seven years, no non-European nations participated. The national groups of Germany and Austria only competed at the two events in their respective countries.

| Nation | Number of Athletes | Athletes |
| - | - | - |
| Germany | 5 (+5) | Franz Bisle, Günther Göllner, Walter Lampe, Henrik Ohlmayr, Oswald Schinze National Group: Alfred Grosche, Friedhelm Klapproth, Ralph Pöhland, Sepp Schwinghammer, Alfred Winkler |
| Austria | 11 (+3) | Reinhold Bachler, Helmut Diess, Max Golser, Albert Haim, Ernst Kröll, Sepp Lichtenegger, Franz Salhofer, Willi Schuster, Erich Schwabl, Walter Schwabl, Janko Zwitter National Group: Heinz Jölly, Franz Kuchlbacher, Ernst Wimmer |
| Czechoslovakia | 7 | Ladislav Divila, Rudolf Höhnl, Zbyněk Hubač, Karel Kodejška, Jan Matouš, Jiří Raška, František Rydval |
| East Germany | 7 | Bernd Karwofski, Horst Queck, Manfred Queck, Heinz Schmidt, Rainer Schmidt, Wilfried Schüller, Clemens Walter |
| Finland | 3 | Keijo Leiho, Topi Mattila, Juhani Ruotsalainen |
| France | 4 | Jannie Arnould, Nicolas Gaide, Alain Macle, Gilbert Poirot |
| Hungary | 3 | László Gellér, Mihály Gellér, János Taffener |
| Italy | 3 | Giacomo Aimoni, Albino Bazana, Mario Ceccon |
| Norway | 3 | Lars Grini, Knut Kongsgård, Jan Olaf Roaldset, Bent Tomtum, Bjørn Wirkola |
| Poland | 2 | Andrej Sztolf, Ryszard Witke |
| Soviet Union | 5 | Vladimir Belousov, Aleksandr Ivannikov, Gariy Napalkov, Wiezeslav Zerbakov, Anatoliy Zheglanov |
| Sweden | 3 | Torbjörn Hedberg, Thord Karlsson, Olle Martinsson |
| Switzerland | 4 | Richard Pfiffner, Hans Schmid, Heribert Schmid, Urs Schönl, Sepp Zehnder |
| Yugoslavia | 6 | Vinko Bogataj, Branko Dolhar, Janez Jurman, Marjan Mesec, Peter Štefančič, Ludvik Zajc |

## Results

### Oberstdorf

Schattenbergschanze, Oberstdorf 29 December 1968

| Rank | Name | Points |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Bjørn Wirkola | 218.7 |
| 2 | Jiří Raška | 215.7 |
| 3 | Josef Matouš | 210.5 |
| 4 | Heinz Schmidt | 210.1 |
| 5 | Manfred Queck | 209.9 |
| 6 | Rudolf Höhnl | 205.4 |
| 7 | Ladislav Divila | 199.9 |
| 8 | Vladimir Belousov | 199.7 |
| 9 | Reinhold Bachler | 199.3 |
| 9 | Ludvik Zajc | 199.3 |

### Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1 January 1969

| Rank | Name | Points |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Bjørn Wirkola | 241.2 |
| 2 | Anatoliy Zheglanov | 235.4 |
| 3 | František Rydval | 233.8 |
| 4 | Vladimir Belousov | 233.6 |
| 5 | Heinz Schmidt | 232.3 |
| 6 | Zbyněk Hubač | 228.4 |
| 7 | Ladislav Divila | 226.5 |
| 8 | Gariy Napalkov | 222.1 |
| 9 | Horst Queck | 221.8 |
| 10 | Lars Grini | 221.2 |

### Innsbruck

Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck 4 December 1969

| Rank | Name | Points |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Bjørn Wirkola | 236.3 |
| 2 | Jiří Raška | 235.5 |
| 3 | Anatoliy Zheglanov | 225.9 |
| 4 | Lars Grini | 222.6 |
| 5 | Zbyněk Hubač | 219.9 |
| 6 | Rudolf Höhnl | 214.1 |
| 7 | František Rydval | 212.4 |
| 8 | Horst Queck | 212.2 |
| 9 | Gariy Napalkov | 210.8 |
| 10 | Heinz Schmidt | 209.7 |

### Bischofshofen

Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Bischofshofen 5 January 1969

| Rank | Name | Points |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Jiří Raška | 234.7 |
| 2 | Bjørn Wirkola | 228.3 |
| 3 | Lars Grini | 222.6 |
| 4 | Anatoliy Zheglanov | 219.2 |
| 5 | Zbyněk Hubač | 218.8 |
| 6 | Wiezeslav Zerbakov | 211.4 |
| 7 | Ladislav Divila | 211.0 |
| 8 | František Rydval | 209.9 |
| 9 | Vladimir Belousov | 208.1 |
| 10 | Bent Tomtum | 207.0 |

## Final ranking

| Rank | Name | Oberstdorf | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Innsbruck | Bischofshofen | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Bjørn Wirkola | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 924.5 |
| 2 | Jiří Raška | 2nd | 21st | 2nd | 1st | 900.5 |
| 3 | Zbyněk Hubač | 11th | 6th | 5th | 5th | 866.0 |
| 4 | Anatoliy Zheglanov | 23rd | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 862.0 |
| 5 | František Rydval | 14th | 3rd | 7th | 8th | 848.2 |
| 6 | Vladimir Belousov | 8th | 4th | 19th | 9th | 839.3 |
| 7 | Rudolf Höhnl | 6th | 15th | 6th | 14th | 838.3 |
| 8 | Heinz Schmidt | 4th | 5th | 10th | 30th | 830.8 |
| 9 | Lars Grini | 59th | 10th | 4th | 3rd | 812.5 |
| 10 | Ladislav Divila | 7th | 7th | 41st | 7th | 810.8 |
