Georg Hackl won three Olympic gold medals for Germany.
He has been working for the Austrian team since this season.
The “Hackl Schorsch” in an interview.
Munich – The Luge World Championships begin in Oberhof on Thursday.
Georg Hackl (56) is not keeping his fingers crossed for the Germans for the first time in almost 25 years.
He switched to the Austrian camp before the season.
Mr Hackl, are you going into this World Cup with a strange feeling?
no
I consciously accepted the task in Austria, I'm right in the middle of it now, I've settled in well in the team - and I came to terms with the situation very well.
The German sports director Thomas Schwab believes that smaller rolls should be baked.
Has the world elite moved closer together since the Olympic Games?
Yes.
But Oberhof is the home track of the Germans - including the younger ones who are now slipping into the team.
The German team is in very good shape and will dominate.
I can already predict that much.
In Germany they want a medal per discipline - what would be a success for Austria?
A medal per discipline would be too high.
One or two total would be a huge hit for us.
Georg Hackl in an interview about his move to Austria: "It wasn't just about the money now"
What news can you give the association?
a lot!
I've already brought in a lot, work techniques on the sled, potential for improvement on the equipment.
But it will be a long process over the next few years to be able to implement everything.
I can also give impetus to driving technique.
Bob national coach Rene Spies says you show that Germany loses top coaches if not enough money is put into their hands.
It wasn't just the money, I always find this reduction inappropriate.
Even after my time in the Bundeswehr, I was well paid by the BSD, I can't say anything about other coaches' salaries.
Money is always nice, but it was the abundance of positive things that made me switch.
This positive spirit in the Austrian team played a big role.
Wasn't the German spirit positive?
That's what you said now!
To put it another way: Do you have to change in order not to stay in the old routine?
I think so, in sport as in life.
It's been a really great time over the last 16 years, with the success and the team spirit in the Bavarian team.
But in life not everything stays the way it is.
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Toboggan icon Georg Hackl at the World Cup in Innsbruck.
© Wassmuth/imago-images
Georg Hackl on his change of federation: "Good friendships can take it"
In Austria, the association for sled construction works with high-tech companies.
Are you one step further?
In terms of production technology, I made the majority of the sled construction components myself in Germany, in the summer in the workshop.
I did all of that with my manual skills.
The Austrian association, on the other hand, has partners in the private sector who manufacture these components according to the "state of the art".
Those are short ways.
Just this morning I picked up new runners from a company.
You call them and a week later they have the new parts.
That frees me up for other things.
You said when you changed: "You leave a lot of friendships behind." How did that develop over the course of the season?
Good friendships endure.
Today I know that most of them held up.
So you don't wish the Germans any failure?
No way!
It doesn't get that far!
We are a big tobogganing family, we stick together in this small sport.
It would be really stupid to wish each other something bad.
Before the Luge World Championships in Oberhof: Georg Hackl in an interview about Felix Loch
Felix Loch recently quoted the sentence "so far no one misses the Hackl, Schorsch".
Do words like these hurt you?
Yes mei... if you know what we have experienced and achieved together in the last 15 years, that is an unfortunate formulation.
But Felix must know himself what he is saying.
I understood the words more as if he wanted to praise the current chief technician Christian Thurner.
He's a very good friend of mine, so Felix is right about that.
Thurner says he's on good terms with you.
He does not rule out a coffee meeting.
In fact, we last met at the hotel on the way back from Latvia and had a few beers in the evening.
Everything is wonderful there.
I really have to commend him.
Although he does not come from the sport, he brings a high level of professional expertise to the table.
He has blossomed into a sled technician.
Is the change perhaps also good for the Germans?
I hope so.
I hope that some things will form differently than in my time.
But I'm not worried about Christian Thurner at all.
He can already completely fill in my footsteps.
And that's why I'm also very proud that I didn't leave a hole where I left.
It's that people I've trained take the reins.
How important is the material in Oberhof?
Material is always a very, very important component.
But in the end, it's the driver's performance that counts on the day of the race.
Above all, the robust psyche, which is important in order to be able to give 100 percent.
Interview: Hanna Raif
List of rubrics: © Wassmuth/imago-images
