--- description: Austrian snowboarder Daniela Ulbing narrowly avoided a squirrel when it ran across her path in the middle of her PyeongChang race. title: Rogue Squirrel Almost Derails Important Olympic Snowboarder image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61e94bd515cbc0d0/698928e04ee2624f1b31102a/daniela-ulbing-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rogue Squirrel Almost Derails Very Important Olympic Snowboarder  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 26, 2018 4:22 PM CUT  PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 24: Daniela Ulbing of Austria competes during the Ladies' Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom 1/8 Final on day fifteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Phoenix Snow Park on February 24, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 24: Daniela Ulbing of Austria competes during the Ladies' Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom 1/8 Final on day fifteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Phoenix Snow Park on February 24, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)David Ramos—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 26, 2018 4:22 PM CUT Not even a squirrelly interruption could throw off Olympic snowboarder Daniela Ulbing of Austria. While putting down a preliminary run in the [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5173976/winter-olympics-2018-highlights/ "undefined") ladies’ snowboard parallel giant slalom on Saturday, 19-year-old Ulbing was faced mid-turn with an unusual extra challenge in the competition: a rogue squirrel who decided to skitter across the race course just as she was making her way down. In a dramatically close call, Ulbing avoided hitting the rodent as she veered around it, barely changing her board’s path. Ultimately, Ulbing finished at the top of her heat, advancing [to the quarterfinals.](http://results.nbcolympics.com/snowboarding/womens-parallel-giant-slalom/quarterfinals/1794459 "undefined") Ulbing found success at March’s [world championships](https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/snowboard/athlete-profile-n3023615-daniela-ulbing.htm "undefined"), so she clearly knew what she was doing on the course — which was lucky for that squirrel. (She eventually lost out to the Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka in the quarterfinal round, who would go on to win gold in the event, with no further squirrel disruptions. Ledecka also [made history](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/24/sport/ledecka-olympics-slalom-intl/index.html "undefined") as the first woman to medal in two different sports at Winter Olympics after picking up the super G skiing gold earlier in the Games, [to much surprise](http://time.com/5172340/ester-ledecka-super-g-gold/ "undefined").) As for the daredevil woodland creature? It certainly seemed confused following the surprise encounter, pausing briefly before scampering back the way it had come. Hopefully it has learned a lesson about avoiding race courses in the future. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/967267014732668928) > [](https://twitter.com/mfore0142/status/967285528684060677) > [](https://twitter.com/ssquirrel007/status/967391607166328833) > [](https://twitter.com/closgolfing/status/967267780285231105) > [](https://twitter.com/jwmangrum/status/967281982487973889) > [](https://twitter.com/LafayetteQ1067/status/967269110383104000) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5175480/squirrel-snowboard-olympics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5175480/squirrel-snowboard-olympics/"},"headline":"Rogue Squirrel Almost Derails Very Important Olympic Snowboarder","datePublished":"2018-02-26T16:22:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:56.496Z","description":"Austrian snowboarder Daniela Ulbing narrowly avoided a squirrel when it ran across her path in the middle of her PyeongChang race.","url":"https://time.com/5175480/squirrel-snowboard-olympics/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61e94bd515cbc0d0/698928e04ee2624f1b31102a/daniela-ulbing-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61e94bd515cbc0d0/698928e04ee2624f1b31102a/daniela-ulbing-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Snowboard - Winter Olympics Day 15","caption":"Snowboard - Winter Olympics Day 15","creditText":"David Ramos—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5175480/squirrel-snowboard-olympics/","name":"Rogue Squirrel Almost Derails Very Important Olympic Snowboarder"}}]}] ```