A dog stole the limelight from competitors in a women’s cross-country skiing competition at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday morning.
As they accelerated down the finishing stretch, the Australian Phoebe Cridland and the Croatian Tena Hadzic were chased by a surprise third participant: an overexcited dog.
The dog finished behind Tena Hadzic
ALAMY
Nazgul, the two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog, had run away from home to join in, its owners told the journalist Nathaniel Herz.
Crossing the finish line just after Hadzic, whose 3 minute and 42 second lap placed her in 19th place, Nazgul would also not have qualified for the final.
Only the top 15 competitors continued to the finals in which the Swedish team of Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist followed up their 2022 silver medal with a gold.
Hadzic said: “The fact that he even made it on to 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.”
Omega, the watch company that sponsors the Games, caught the dog’s attempt at glory on its finish line camera.
The dog first appeared running down the track behind the Argentinian Nahiara Diaz Gonzalez, then stooped to inspect a camera before following Cridland and Hadzic.
Crossing the finish line
OMEGA/REUTERS
Rob Walker, the BBC commentator, said: “Well, we haven’t got a bib number for this athlete but what a drive towards the line. The wax technicians have done a brilliant job with [his] paws.”
The dog was filmed being detained by the chief of competition after the race.
ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP
Sundling and Dahlqvist dominated both the qualifier and the final, securing their medal with a one-second lead over Switzerland’s Nadja Kaelin and Nadine Faehndrich who won their first Olympic medals.
Germany’s Laura Gimmler and Coletta Rydzek claimed the bronze, finishing nearly six seconds behind the leaders. There were no Team GB competitors in the race.
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Cross-country skiing was one of the sports at the first Olympic winter games in Chamonix in 1924, though women were not allowed to compete until the Oslo Olympics in 1952.
The race involves teams of two racing in turn around a 1.5km cross-country track with climbs and slopes in freestyle, rather than the slower classic style, for six laps.