Tena Hadzic was three hundred meters from the finish line when she saw movement in her peripheral vision. A flash of gray fur. Four legs running parallel to the ski course. She thought exhaustion was playing tricks on her mind. "Am I hallucinating?" she remembers thinking. The 21-year-old Croatian skier had been racing for nearly an hour in the women's cross-country team sprint at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Her lungs burned, her legs screamed, and now apparently her brain was inventing dogs.
Except the dog was real. Nazgul, a two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog, had broken free from his doghouse at a nearby bed-and-breakfast and decided the Olympic cross-country course looked like an excellent place to stretch his legs. By the time race officials realized what was happening, Nazgul was sprinting alongside skiers, tongue out, looking absolutely thrilled with his decision.
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The moment hit television screens worldwide on February 18, 2026. NBC's commentators struggled to maintain professional composure. "Racing to the line there," one announcer said, voice cracking with laughter. "The crowd clearly enjoying this." His co-host added what everyone watching already knew:
"The biggest cheer of the day is not for any of the skiers so far."
The roar from the spectators when Nazgul crossed the finish line drowned out everything else.
Emily Chen, a software developer in Seattle, was watching from her couch with her own Husky mix curled beside her. "I lost it when the dog hit the photo finish," she said. "My dog lifted his head like, 'That could've been me.'" Emily immediately posted the clip to her Instagram story. Within an hour, it had been shared eight hundred times. By evening, Nazgul was trending on every platform. Someone created a Twitter account for him that gained forty thousand followers before midnight.
The internet did what the internet does. Memes flooded social media. "Give him the gold medal," one post demanded. Another showed Nazgul photoshopped onto a podium. A Reddit thread titled "Nazgul's Time" dissected whether his sprint would have medaled if dogs were allowed to compete. The consensus: he would've placed respectably in the middle of the pack.
But not everyone found it funny. Marcus Webb, a competitive skier from Colorado, pointed out the risk. "If that had been the finals instead of qualifiers, someone's Olympic dream could have ended because of a loose dog," he wrote on X. Hadzic herself acknowledged this in interviews afterward. She wasn't competing for medals that day, so the interruption felt harmless.
"But if that happened in the finals, it could really cost someone," she said.
Nazgul's owners, who asked to remain anonymous due to media attention, told NPR their dog is "stubborn, but very sweet." They live near the race venue and are related to an event official. That morning, Nazgul had been crying more than usual as they left for work. "I think he just wanted to follow us," the owner said. "He always looks for people." Once free, Nazgul did exactly what Czechoslovakian wolfdogs were bred to do: he ran. The breed combines German Shepherd working drive with Carpathian wolf endurance. They're rare outside Europe, intelligent, and not particularly interested in human rules about where they can and cannot sprint.
The Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 released a statement confirming the incident. They noted the dog entered "briefly" and "did not interrupt or interfere with the competition." They also confirmed Nazgul was "promptly secured and returned to its owner." What they didn't mention was that Nazgul looked completely unbothered by the whole situation. Video footage shows him trotting calmly alongside officials after the race, sniffing an athlete's boots, utterly pleased with himself.
Sarah Martinez in Portland, who owns two Malamutes, called it the highlight of the Olympics so far. "Every sled dog owner I know sent me that video," she said.
"It's what our dogs dream about. A big open space, people running, and absolutely no recall training in sight."
The story resonated because it's universal. Every dog owner has lived some version of it. The moment your dog slips the leash at the park. The gate left open by mistake. The split second when training fails and instinct wins. Usually those moments end with frantic chasing and apologizing to neighbors. This one ended with millions of people watching a wolfdog steal an Olympic moment and loving every second of it.
Source: Yahoo Sports - Nazgul the wolfdog steals show during 2026 Winter Olympics race