The 14th edition of the FIS Grand Prix ski jumping will begin Saturday, Aug. 11 in Hinterzarten, Germany, with a team event that will be held as a night competition. This represents the ninth time that Hinterzarten hosts the opening competition of this traditional summer highlight event series.

THE 14TH EDITION of the FIS Grand Prix ski jumping will begin Saturday, Aug. 11 in Hinterzarten, Germany, with a team event that will be held as a night competition. This represents the ninth time that Hinterzarten hosts the opening competition of this traditional summer highlight event series.
    Sunday’s individual competition in Hinterzarten will kick off the second Four Nations Grand Prix that includes competitions in Hinterzarten, Courchevel, France; Pragelato, Italy; and Einsiedeln, Switserland. Between the events in Hinterzarten, the only venue that been on the program of every FIS Grand Prix, and this year’s final that will take place in Klingenthal, Germany, on Oct. 6,  the FIS Grand Prix ski jumping series will include 10 individual events and one team competition.
    The 2007 Four Nations Grand Prix is the first time that the 2006 Olympic hill in Pragelato will serve as a host for the summer series. This year, there will be a special points ranking for the Four Nations Grand Prix and other prizes. As in the previous years, the daily prize money per FIS Grand Prix ski jumping event will be CHF 12’000 (divided among ranks 1-6). The ”Manner Man of the Day“ prize will also again be awarded to the best jumper who is not prequalified. In the summer, the Manner Man of the Day awards a cash prize of €1000.
    The FIS Grand Prix ski jumping also will implement some rule changes for the 2007-08 season. The most significant change is the increased importance of the qualification as only the best 10 athletes are prequalified for the competitions.
    “The FIS Grand Prix ski jumping is an important opportunity for us to test our rule changes in practice before the on-snow season,” said Walter Hofer, FIS race director ski jumping. “Besides the impact of the change in the number of prequalified jumpers, I am looking forward to seeing how the introduction of the four semi-professional technical delegate assistants will help us improve the quality of our events next season.
    “The teams have set differing goals for the summer series; for some, it is a serious season goal, while others prefer to use it as a point of comparison against the other teams or to advance the current stage of their preparations. However, I expect this year’s Grand Prix to introduce us to a few new talents, especially from Slovenia and Poland. The Russian team is also likely to be strong while we all hope for a re-emergence of the German team.”
    Introduced last season, the international FIS youth ski jumping events again will be staged in conjunction of the FIS Grand Prix ski jumping events in Hinterzarten, Pragelato, Einsiedeln and Zakopane. The FIS youth ski jumping is targeted at female and male jumpers up to 14 years of age. “The FIS youth events are organized together with the FIS Grand Prix in order to provide the young jumpers with international competition opportunities staged in a professional manner,” Hofer said. “This includes proper infrastructure, timing and data systems and other key elements. The first year of the youth events was a great success and with the inclusion of Pragelato, the series will now extend to four countries.”

Overall FIS Grand Prix ski jumping winners 1994-2006

1994 Takanobu Okabe (JPN)

1995 Andreas Goldberger (AUT)

1996 Ari-Pekka Nikkola (FIN)

1997 Masahiko Harada (JPN)

1998 Masahiko Harada (JPN)

1999 Sven Hannawald (GER)

2000 Janne Ahonen (FIN)

2001 Adam Malysz (POL)

2002 Andreas Widhölzl (AUT)

2003 Thomas Morgenstern (AUT)

2004 Adam Malysz (POL)

2005 Jakub Janda (CZE)

2006 Adam Malysz (POL)

Final standings 2006-07

1. Adam Malysz POL 545

2. Wolfgang Loitzl AUT 486

3. Andreas Kofler AUT 397

4. Simon Ammann SUI 393

5. Gregor Schlierenzauer AUT 330

6. Andreas Kuettel SUI 303

7. Janne Happonen FIN 252

8. Anders Bardal NOR 221

9. Jakub Janda CZE 196

10. Anders Jacobsen NOR 184