By Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton
TESERO, Italy, Feb 18 (Reuters) – A husky with lots of enthusiasm but no credentials gatecrashed a women’s team sprint cross-country race on Wednesday, giving an impromptu performance that had spectators howling with delight.
The dog wandered onto the stadium course in Tesero during the qualifying event, spotted a couple of athletes on the finishing straight and decided to join the action.
The canine sniffed around for a bit before racing across the line ahead of the skiers to wild cheers from a crowd clearly entertained by the unexpected addition to the field.
“It was so fun. I like dogs, we have a dog at home,” said Sweden’s Jonna Sundling, who went on to win gold with teammate Maja Dahlqvist.
“When it came to the finish line I was like, ‘Okay we have a new member.’ He or she wanted to go through the mixed zone as well, so it was fun,” she added referring to the area where competitors speak to the media
Not all racers agreed.
“I was cooling down on the bike, and I saw the dog and I was like, ‘That’s crazy’ and I was just happy I wasn’t skiing next to the dog because I’m a bit afraid of dogs. I was happy I was already at the finish,” said Nadja Kaelin of Switzerland.
The Swiss skier won the silver medal with teammate Nadine Faehndrich in the finals race.
Officials eventually got hold of the tail-wagging interloper but not before timekeepers preparing for a photo-finish in the race captured an image of the dog crossing the line.
(Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton in Tesero; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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