A dog appeared out of nowhere in a cross-country ski race, thankfully there were no incidents and everyone was quite amused.
"One of the cutest anecdotes of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games happened on Wednesday morning, during qualifying for the women's team sprint, when a four-legged uninvited guest entered the ski circuit near the finish line, and run around, smelling the exhausted skiers' butts, who couldn't believe their eyes.
This beautiful dog appeared on TV cameras everywhere, and followed it before he was taken out. Thankfully, no incidents happened, and everyone seemed amused and delighted, despite the clear safety risk that a big, loose dog could have posed to skiers if it had appeared at another point of the circuit.
In fact, the official X Olympics account posted some images and a light hearted message... but deleted it minutes later, perhaps realising of their big irresponsibility and the threat a dog like that could have caused.
According to NPR, the dog is named Nazgul, is a two year old Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, and is "stubborn but very sweet", according to the anonymous owners.
"He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving — and I think he just wanted to follow us. He always looks for people", the owners, who are related to an event official, said. "
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**My note: Of course, this "cute" incident could have ended terribly under different circumstances, but thankfully Nazgul is a nice example of the breed in terms of temperament — a friendly, happy fellow who just wants to be included! Also, Czechoslovakian wolfdogs are a fairly popular breed in Italy, so it is likely he was quickly recognised as what he is (a dog). So glad that his interruption only happened at the tail end of the event, and that he was swiftly reunited with his owner afterward!
