It was a case of dog stopped play at the World Cup Super-G event in Bormio on Thursday as the race was held up in comical circumstances.
To the amusement of competitors, a dog escaped from its owner and made its way down the slope, seamlessly dodging marshals in the process. And after reaching the bottom, he still wasn't done, turning around and heading back up in a bid to find a way off the course.
Race officials looked on helpless whilst the actual skiers were seen laughing. And the Eurosport commentator certainly saw the funny side too, describing the live action to viewers.
"The shots are of this dog trying to be caught. It's keeping everybody amused including us in the commentary box," he said. "He's doing the whole length on the San Pietro. The dog is stealing the show here in Bormio."
The animal appeared to tire as he neared the bottom of the slope, with the pundit adding: "He's running out of legs himself. We talked about the athletes running out of legs, well this guy has got a couple of extra legs and he' still exhausted.
"Whoever's dog that is is sure going to be a making a sneaky exit. He's still trying to find a way out of the course, now running uphill to see if he can get out of the red fence."
And noting the response of those on the side, he added: "Racers enjoying a bit of a light hearted entertainment. Not quite the same levels of danger as we've seen on screen in the last hour or so."
When things did resume, Swiss skier Marco Odermatt extended his lead at the top of the overall World Cup standings with victory . . The 25-year-old's winning time was 1:29.27 seconds.
He also took the lead in the FIS Alpine Ski 2022/23 season rankings for the Super G discipline with the victory. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr was second.
