Owners recount panic after Nazgul gatecrashes race on doggy day out

TESERO, Italy, Feb 20 : When the Varesco family headed off to watch the biathlon at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday they left their two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog Nazgul locked in his kennel at home in Tesero.

In their absence, Nazgul became the most unlikely star of the Milano Cortina Games after escaping from the house and wandering onto the nearby Olympic cross-country course before sprinting down the finishing straight alongside the skiers. 

"We were on the train to Anterselva to watch the biathlon," Alice Varesco told Reuters on Friday. 

"We were three hours from home when friends started sending us videos. That was the panic moment. We realised we could not do anything."

For a few surreal seconds during the qualifying races, spectators thought a wolf had wandered onto the course. 

Instead, it was Nazgul, lean and silver-grey, ears pricked, locking onto the skiers ahead of him and instinctively joining the chase. 

He even appeared in an official photo finish image, which was how Alice and Ernesto Varesco ultimately confirmed it was their dog.

"Concern, for sure," Alice said of her first reaction. "It was with us the whole day actually. Even after they told us he was safe, we kept thinking about what could have gone wrong."

Nazgul had never previously got out of the house on his own and the Varescos think that, frustrated at being left behind, he may have nudged a lever repeatedly until it gave way before managing to get the door to the house open. 

"He wanted to look for us I think because he's used ... to going in that direction with us when we go for a walk," Alice said. "He likes to stay with his crew."    

NAZGUL CAUGHT INSIDE VENUE

Race officials reacted quickly to the incursion. The race director managed to catch