The women taking part in qualifying for the Milano Cortina 2026 cross-country team sprint event at Val di Fiemme, in Trentino, on Wednesday had an unexpected rival in the race for the finish line when a dog managed to get on the final straight.
    The dog, which looked like a husky or a husky-German shepherd mix, bounced onto the course and sprinted on it at speed for several metres.
    "It's the most curious thing to have happened so far," said Giovanni Plano, the head of the Olympic operations in Trentino.
    "I usually follow the competitions from the jury room, because that way we are also in direct contact with the medical team in case we need to intervene.
    "Then we got news that there was that there was a wolf on the track.

And that made us all jump".
    The 'wolf' turned out to be a local dog.
    "It belongs to a resident who was out for a walk and it got away," said Plano.
    "We caught it, and within a short time, the owner came to get it back".
    Sweden went on to win gold in the event, followed by Switzerland and Germany.

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