He took up luge as part of his physical education lessons whilst at school, learning to slide at the Königssee track.

Although Hackl was not as natural an athlete as Prock, he was noted as being extremely skilled at setting up his sled to suit particular ice conditions on a given day.

In addition his coach and former luger Thomas Schwab highlighted Hackl's mental strength as being key to his success.

[3] He won his first Winter Olympic Games luge medal in 1988 in Calgary, when he finished second in the singles event, while placing fourth in the doubles.

In 1998, he won the gold by clocking the fastest time in all four runs, the first in Olympic history in the men's singles to do so (Vera Zozula of the Soviet Union did that feat in the women's singles event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York).