An unexpected four-legged guest made an appearance at the finish line of Wednesday’s women’s team sprint cross-country race at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

As the final racers neared the finish, a dog darted onto the course and crossed the line with them, delighting the crowd. The Czechoslovakian wolfdog named Nazgul lingered momentarily after entering the track and only took off toward the finish line once it noticed the racers.

Nazgul’s owners, later revealed as the Varesco family, are related to an event official, according to NPR. 

“He was crying this morning more than normal because he was seeing us leaving — and I think he just wanted to follow us,” one of the owners told NPR earlier this week. “He always looks for people.”

Alice Varesco recalled the choactic moment. “We were on the train to Anterselva to watch the biathlon,” Varesco told Reuters. “We were three hours from home when friends started sending us videos. That was the panic moment. We realized we could not do anything.”

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At first, some spectators likely mistook the silver-gray Nazgul for a wolf. An official photo finish later revealed the truth to Alice and Ernesto Varesco.

“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.”

It marked the first known time Nazgul escaped the house on his own. The Varescos said he likely didn’t want to be left behind while they attended the biathlon and repeatedly hit a lever that opened the door.

“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’s surprise appearance did not appear to have any major effect on the sporting event itself as the top medal contenders had already crossed the finish line.

Officials caught Nazgul inside the venue, and he was home within half an hour.

While the surprise appearance on the track did not have a major impact on the race, it did at least briefly impact one competitor’s mental state. “I was like, ‘Am I hallucinating?’” Croatian skier Tena Hadzic said, per NPR. “I don’t know what I should do, because maybe he could attack me, bite me.”

Fox News’ Ryan Canfield contributed to this report.

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JSerra High has an athlete, Godschoice Eboigbodin, whose size and athleticism are earning rave reviews in two sports. People are calling him a “beast.”

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound junior played football for the first time last fall and was so impressive that college recruiters immediately became enamored with his potential.

Now in basketball, which he has much more experience playing, he continues to rise. He had 19 points and 15 rebounds Friday night when JSerra defeated Inglewood 103-91 to advance to the Southern Section Division 1 championship game.

There’s also his outgoing personality.

Early in the season, he was so aggressive he got into foul trouble. Now he’s in “basketball shape,” coach Keith Wilkinson said, and the Lions are surging with him and 6-9 Ryan Doane combining their talents inside.

Eboigbodin also can make free throws, so when opponents foul him, he can take advantage.

Football still looks like his future sport in college, but he’s sure having fun playing basketball.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Everyone got the matchup they wanted for the men’s hockey Olympic gold medal game.

Sunday, the 46th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” will feature the United States against Canada, which is without a doubt the fiercest international rivalry in all of sports, going for all the marbles.

Unfortunately for Americans, Canada has owned this rivalry since day one. 

This will be the eighth time the United States and Canada have played for Olympic gold, and the only time the Americans have won was back in 1960. They also faced off for gold in 1920, 1924, 1932, 1952, 2002 and 2010. In the best-on-best format, the U.S. is 5-15-1, and three of those victories came in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

The very first meeting between the two countries in a best-on-best format was back in the 1976 Canada Cup, which Team Canada won 4-2. The Americans did not earn their first win over their northern neighbors until 20 years later, after losing seven of their first eight meetings and tying in the other.

The U.S. won that year’s World Cup, taking home the best-of-three series against Canada, but since then, it’s mostly been Canadian dominance again.

Canada has gone 7-2 against the Americans since 1998, and four of those wins were absolute gut-punches to the United States. Canada took home the 2002 Olympic gold medal in Salt Lake City over the Americans, but more famously, Sidney Crosby’s golden goal eight years later also came at the expense of Team USA in front of a Vancouver crowd. Four years later, Canada again defeated the U.S. in the Olympic semifinals, and last year, Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off with an overtime victory against the Stars and Stripes.

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The United States’ only wins in the aforementioned span came during group play of both the 2010 Olympics and last year’s 4 Nations. So, it’s been quite a while since the Americans had true bragging rights. Overall, Canada leads the best-on-best series, 15-5-1.

These two teams are already very familiar with each other, as both rosters are largely composed of the same members as last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, where three fights occurred in the first nine seconds in the countries’ first best-on-best game in nine years.

Tensions between both teams and the fans were sky-high in that tournament, as it was fresh off President Donald Trump‘s “51st state” comments and tariffs against the country.

But this is the true big stage, with revenge, bragging rights and Olympic gold on the line.

The gold medal game will take place Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET.

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