An unexpected competitor joined the 2026 Winter Olympics cross-country skiing course on Wednesday as teams were finishing up qualifiers.
The spectacle occurred when a dog wandered onto the ski trail as the women’s team cross-country free sprint qualification event was taking place in Italy, and began chasing after competitors from Argentina and Croatia as they crossed the finish line.
The four-legged interloper was close to running ahead of the athletes before stopping to sniff the competitor from Argentina at the finish line.
Many Olympic viewers on X were rooting for the dog, with one person writing, “i hope he wins.”
Omega, the official timekeeper of the Olympics, captured a photo of the dog crossing the finish line before the dog was escorted off the course.
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Alaska-based journalist Nathaniel Herz spoke with the owner of the dog, named Nazgul after the Ringwraiths from The Lord of the Rings, according to Norwegian outlet VG.
“He just disappeared, ran away from home. He is a very kind, very stubborn, and very sweet dog. He always looks for people and is very social. He doesn’t hurt people,” the owner told the journalist of the two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog.
The dog almost crashed into Argentina’s Nahiara Diaz Gonzales, who told VG that Nazgul is “famous now.”
“I saw it and I was kind of trying to feel or see what it was going to do while I was coming down, because I didn’t want to crash with the dog. But luckily it went well,” she told VG.
She said she noticed the cute canine on the way down the hill but she was focused on finishing her race.
“When I saw it (again), it was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s weird, but it’s so cute,” she added.
Croatia’s Tena Hadzia said she feared the dog might bite her, adding, “At first I thought it was a wolf, and that I was hallucinating because of the strenuous race.”
“It was extremely large, and as I went past it, I was afraid it might bite me,” she added.
“The fact that he even made it onto the track isn’t good. For me, it’s not a big deal since I’m not competing for a medal. But if that had happened in the final, where medals are at stake, it could have been dangerous,” Hadzia said.
Greece contestant Konstantina Charalampido said that the dog was “very well-behaved.”
“He followed the camera on the finishing straight, was cute, and thankfully didn’t disrupt the race. It was funny,” Charalampido said.
“He made me forget about the race, because it wasn’t good. Thanks to him, I’m famous now, so I have to thank him,” she said, after landing in last place.
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