Markus Prock

Markus Prock is an Austrian former luger regarded as one of the sport's greatest-ever competitors, dominating the World Cup circuit across six Olympic Games while frequently coming second to rival Georg Hackl on the biggest stage.

Ten World Cup overall titles and 33 individual race victories made Markus Prock the most consistently dominant luger of his generation, even as the Olympic gold his performances merited eluded him across six Games. A talented all-around athlete in his youth with strong personal bests in sprinting, he took up luge after entering a teenage competition at the Igls track and quickly developed into one of the sport's most powerful starters. Prock competed in six Winter Olympics between 1984 and 2002, developing a celebrated rivalry with German luger Georg Hackl: while Prock was consistently the dominant force on the World Cup circuit, Hackl repeatedly got the better of him at the Olympics, and Prock settled for silver medals in 1992 and 1994 before finally winning bronze in 2002 at age 37. Prock's true legacy lies in the depth of his sustained excellence away from the Olympics: he won five World Championship titles, including two in singles (1987, 1996) and three in the mixed team event, along with 14 total World Championship medals. He also won ten World Cup overall titles and 33 individual World Cup races, figures that established him among the greatest lugers of all time. Prock retired in 2002 and was honoured with Austria's Gold Medal for Meritorious Service, later becoming sports director of the Tyrolean Luge Association.

Powerful, athletic luger renowned for an explosive start and exceptional technique

Widely regarded as one of the greatest lugers in history, whose career-long rivalry with Georg Hackl became one of the sport's defining stories

• 2x Olympic silver (1992, 1994)
• Olympic bronze (2002)
• 5x World Champion
• 10x World Cup overall champion
• 33 World Cup singles race wins