Toboggan legend coaches Austria: Georg Hackl rails against German macho sayings

At the World Championships in Oberhof, technical trainer Georg "Schorsch" Hackl is working for the Austrian team - not everyone in the German camp likes that.

Toboggan legend coaches Austria: Georg Hackl rails against German macho sayings

At the World Championships in Oberhof, technical trainer Georg "Schorsch" Hackl is working for the Austrian team - not everyone in the German camp likes that. They even question his merits. The luge legend doesn't put up with it.

Everything has to fit in turn eight. There is Hackl Schorsch, the German luge legend. He knows what is important at the World Championships in Oberhof: pick up height, drive smoothly, initiate steering more quickly. One sledge after the other rattles through the ice channel, Hackl has them all in view. It beeps and hisses. "Schorsch?" someone asks over the radio. Then Hackl gives his opinion, explains precisely where the impact on the sled in the curve came from, and corrects it with a lot of warmth in his voice. But it has gotten a little chilly around him ahead of the peak of the season.

Georg Hackl, born in Berchtesgaden, has not been broadcasting on the German channel since this season. The technical trainer is attending a major event for the Austrian association for the first time. An association of which former Hackl rival and current President Markus Prock says: "Our big goal is to be the most successful nation at the Olympics in 2026." With the help of Hackl, whose contract runs until 2026. Hackl of all people, the epitome of tobogganing in Germany, has switched sides after countless triumphs as an athlete and 16 years of successful coaching. Crucifix! Find the German camp, find the fans. And how it could come to this, they also ask themselves.

"Of course they tried to keep me," explains Hackl. "But then the offer was so attractive and I was ready to say: I want to do something different for once in my life." Tinkering with the Austrian material, gilding it. "Changing big things in the system is a process that takes several years," says the three-time Olympic champion. Prock believes in the success of the project. "His know-how, his knowledge, that's undisputed," says the association's president. And admittedly, he also wanted to get Hackl for marketing reasons. This is "very interesting" for Austrian tobogganing, as well as for potential sponsors.

And for Hackl? More salary, more freedom, better atmosphere. Is it [called. You also hear other opinions. "He had a lot of freedom with us too, I don't think that was the reason. He was undisputed in our team," says Felix Loch, who worked closely with Hackl and won 13 world titles during this time. "Schorsch has known me since I was little," says Loch, "and he didn't include me in his decision either."

The personnel has caused a few wounds in the German association, which will open up again at the World Cup. For a long time it seemed as if Hackl's ex-team could push the topic aside like a pile of old snow. "We pulled the switch relatively quickly and said that things had to go differently. And that's exactly how it is," said Felix Loch. Such phrases abounded. "The Schorsch" was important, "but not the navel of the world," said World Cup favorite Dajana Eitberger.

Hackl also appeased. "If the Austrians hadn't asked me so vehemently, I would have continued in Germany. Nothing happened." Perhaps that also explains the disappointment in the German camp, which is palpable in the days of Oberhof; with volunteers along the route, with those responsible. Hackl's sporting expertise and insider knowledge is now in the neighboring country. National coach Norbert Loch declared defiantly on Tuesday: "Hackl didn't invent tobogganing." Loch spoke of “now more than ever”, of a change that motivated him. It sounded a little like hurt pride. "My father often had his back, so maybe that's why he's a bit disappointed about the departure," explains Felix Loch. But you don't want to step in, "the time together was too good for that".

So nice that the national coach had already initiated plans for the 2026 Olympics - of course with Hackl on the coaching team. "We were actually looking forward to a few nice years together before the Olympics," says Felix Loch. Until the Hackl hammer fell, out of nowhere. Personnel was rescheduled. Christian Thurner, who should actually benefit from the experience of the teacher, now has to take responsibility as a technical trainer. As Norbert Loch says, he also has "golden hands", but is a career changer who never rushed down the lanes like Hackl did. "I understand Norbert when he's piqued. But that's my life and I only have one thing. That's it," says Hackl.

He doesn't like late tickets either. Actually. Hackl didn't invent tobogganing? He smiles. "Actually, in the course of my career in tobogganing, I invented a few things that were either curbed by a change in the regulations or that are still used in all nations today. Norbert should know that, but apparently he's too far away from the technology," says Hackl. "Such macho sayings are one of the few things that I like to leave behind in Germany."