A toboggan hero cheats

It can't be anything other than a big, huge mistake. A false report that somehow found its way into the headlines using secret tricks and tricks. Or is it a belated April Fool's joke and the story just happened to be in the newspapers these days. I look at the date. Once again. No, it's really not April 1st and it's not fun and certainly not a thigh-thumper, although the person in question has a good portion of it and could possibly even dance a Schuhplattler brilliantly with it.

George Hackl. Future trainer in Austria. The eyes water, the heart becomes heavy, the mind refuses to understand what is apparently obvious. I browse through all sorts of publications. The “Hackl-Schorsch” is actually omnipresent. The toboggan king from Germany, three times Olympic champion and three times world champion, is leaving his homeland to strengthen the competition. It's true. Markus Prock, the senior tobogganist in Austria and formerly one of Hackl's toughest opponents, caught him. Him, the epitome of the home-loving athlete and coach who turned a fringe sport in Germany into a kind of winter Formula 1. The cymbal builder of the tobogganists Austria has made its way to silverware. The offer was extremely lucrative, they said. At the age of 55, Schorsch has once again received a new challenge and has now accepted it. It's not a mistake. Trainer at the Austrian Toboggan Association (ÖRV): Georg Hackl. Our Schorsch. Hackl is something like Rosi Mittermeier in skiing, Franz Beckenbauer in football or Michael Schumacher in motorsport. He is “Mister Tobogganing”. Nothing against his successors, such as Felix Loch, who is also a three-time Olympic champion. But if you were to conduct a survey, no matter where in Germany, along the lines of: Name a well-known German luger, one hundred percent of those surveyed would say Georg Hackl. Or just “the Hackl-Schorsch”.

A luminary of tobogganing: Georg Hackl. © AFP / OLIVER LANG

Why would that be? He was always authentic, a well-groomed Bavarian on the one hand and an incredibly meticulous worker. While his competitors were already on the massage table, he was still working on his blades. Georg Hackl was busy with his vehicle at all times of the day and night. He never gave up, always finding a little thing that could be improved. The ice rinks of the world were his. He raced down her like an unstoppable kissing ball, almost an explosion, Hackl, Hackl. And now Austria. There's not just an icon and a sporting hero and popular figure (even if that's not a nice word, but I can't think of a better word for him), but also someone who knows everything, really everything, about his sport. He not only takes his Lederhosen with him to Austria, but also his entire know-how, which is priceless. A guarantee of success And yet there are no accusations. If anyone deserves to be able to make their successes visible once again through a clear movement in their account, it is “Hackl-Schorsch”. Even if it hurts, if I'm honest, because the Olympic bobsleigh and toboggan run in Beijing was recently under German control. 60 percent of all medals for Germany were achieved while sitting or lying down. The tobogganists alone shone with four gold and two silver medals. Also thanks to Georg Hackl.

Once competitors, now partners: Georg Hackl (left) and Markus Prock, boss of the Austrian Tobogganers. © APA / EXPA/ERICH SPIESS

I still can't imagine him in an Austrian anorak, our “Hackl-Schorsch”, but that's life and on the other hand, German winter sports associations aren't afraid to poach in the Austrian camp. The men's alpine head coach is Christian Schwaiger from Tyrol (the father of the biathlete Julia Schwaiger, who of course competes for Austria) and the latest coup by the German Ski Association (DSV) is almost at Hackl level.

Andreas Puelacher (57), who worked for the ÖSV for eight years, most recently as head coach of the Alpine men (which is comparable to the national coaching job in football in Germany), is now taking over the German Alpine women around Lena Dürr and Kira Weidle. With him, expectations naturally rise, especially since Puelacher is also supposed to ensure that the gap behind the World Cup riders is closed. A big name always helps to perhaps rekindle a little more enthusiasm among young people for Alpine racing. Is Austria now making it big? It's similar with Hackl and I'm almost afraid it will work too. Because when Hackl is standing at the track in Innsbruck-Igls, you have the feeling that the toboggan god from Berchtesgaden (whose home track in Königssee was destroyed by a mudslide last year) just needs to put his hand on the sled and it's off a little faster through the dashing curves.

At the Yangqing Sliding Center in China, Austria won a bronze medal and two silver medals in tobogganing, although the athletes who were also supervised by Hackl were always just faster. That should and of course can change in the future. Hackl's move from Germany to Austria is guaranteed to give the Luge World Cup an even bigger boost next season. Thanks to “Hackl-Schorsch”. Once again. It suits him because he has always performed miracles, our toboggan hero from Berchtesgaden, future Austria.

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A toboggan hero cheats

In the toboggan scene, the Austrian Markus Prock, who was himself one of the most successful athletes on the ice track, achieved what was probably the greatest coup possible. He hired German luge icon Georg Hackl as a coach. Our columnist Sigi Heinrich's heart is bleeding a little.

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