Very good dog invades course but falls short of medal glory at Winter Olympics [View all]

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Very good dog invades course but falls short of medal glory at Winter Olympics

Tom Lutz
Wed 18 Feb 2026 10.02 EST

A local dog has missed out on a historic cross-country medal at the Winter Olympics despite a lung-bursting surge in the homestretch.

Nazgul, who according to NPR lives at a nearby hotel in Tesero, broke on to the course on Wednesday morning and sprinted for the line behind Croatia’s Tena Hadzic as she came to the end of the qualifying race for women’s team cross-country sprint. Even if he had completed the entire race, Nazgul’s time would not have counted as he is male. And a dog.

“I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating?” Hadzic said of her encounter with Nazgul, a Czechoslovakian wolfdog. “I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me.”

Once Nazgul had taken in the cheers of the adoring crowd, he was captured by race officials. Hadzic took the incident in her stride.

… more … video at link …