This event has gone to the dogs.
A dog ran onto a cross-country skiing course during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and sprinted across the finish line just behind two competitors.
As athletes from Croatia and Australia were finishing their qualification efforts in the cross-country women’s team sprint event, they were joined by a four-legged friend who drew massive cheers from the crowd.
“I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating?’” Croatian skier Tena Hadzic told NPR. “I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me.”
However, the dog turned out to be a good boy. He sprinted across the finish line, sniffed the racers and then trotted over to race officials, who hugged and pet him.
The dog’s owners live in Tesero, where the race was held, and told NPR he is a two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog named Nazgul who is “stubborn but very sweet.”
“He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving – and I think he just wanted to follow us,” one owner, who is related to an event official, told NPR. “He always looks for people.”
The Croatian and Australian teams finished well outside of qualification for the women’s team sprint finals. Hadzic told NPR the dog’s surprise intrusion did cost her “some seconds” but she was glad it didn’t occur during a more intense portion of the competition.
Sweden won gold, while Switzerland earned silver and Germany took bronze.
Nazgul’s sprint to the finish was not timed, but he was given his own “photo finish” image. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
