A Winter Olympic ski race was invaded by a special guest when a dog ran onto the track and began following competitors.
Olympic medal hopefuls were coming onto the final straight in the women’s team cross country qualifiers in Tesero on Wednesday.
Suddenly a large, wolf-like dog appeared on the track, investigating a trackside camera before taking off after two skiers.
The excited canine followed the Croatia and Greece racers as they crossed the line, energetically greeting the competitors and walking away.
The action occurred in front of a packed grandstand, full of people who were delighted to see the adorable dog make an appearance.
Top qualifiers Jonna Sundling of Sweden and Astrid Oyre Slind of Norway were both playful when asked about the invader.
First-place Sundling referred to it as “cute” while her competitor joked: “A dog is my least problem, a Swede is my biggest”, The Sun reports.
Last-place finisher Konstantina Charalampido of Greece saw the animal as a silver lining in an otherwise grim race.
She said: “Luckily, he was very well-behaved. He followed the camera on the finishing straight, was cute, and thankfully didn’t disrupt the race.
“It was funny. 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.”
But others were more concerned with how the dog managed to get on the track in the first place, with skiing expert Fredrik Aukland claiming on NRK that the dog’s involvement in the race “could have been a disaster.”
Croatian Tena Hadzic, who was one of the two skiers the dog followed over the finish line, was not at all amused by the incident.
She said per the Mail: “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 ran past it, I was afraid it might bite me.
“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.”
The owner of the dog later came forward, revealing the friendly canine, named Nazgul after the ringwraiths in Lord of the Rings, had escaped from home earlier that day.
The owner told Norwegian outlet VG the two-year-old Czech Wolfhound: “Just disappeared, ran away from home.
“He is a very kind dog. Very stubborn, very sweet and very social. He always seeks contact with people. He doesn’t hurt people.”