Earlier this month Austria's Marcel Hirscher and the United States' Mikaela Shiffrin were awarded their third reindeers having topped the podium at the World Cup event in Finland.

The prize to some degree makes sense, given Levi is located in Finnish Lapland. Though it must be said that receiving a reindeer as a prize is odd, particularly when it is presented by Santa Claus himself in November.

Naturally the slalom specialists have not taken their reindeers with them, but they have been able to name their podium prizes and supposedly stay in touch with their reindeer's activities.

Shiffrin opted to name her latest reindeer recruit "Mr Gru", after the character from the Despicable Me films. It followed Rudolph after her 2013 triumph and Sven - the reindeer from the movie Frozen - in 2016.

"Mr. Snow" was added to Hirscher’s herd, after he previously named his other reindeer Ferdinand and Leo.

The reindeer race is not the only skiing event to have offered the chance for athletes to own wildlife.

Lindsey Vonn has unsurprisingly been a beneficiary during her glittering career, which has seen her take ownership of cows and goats. 

She claimed her first cow in 2005, with "Olympe" followed nine years later by "Winnie" after Vonn triumphed at World Cup races at Val d'Isere in France, which had a tie-in with local farms.

The first occasion supposedly saw Vonn turn down the organisers' offer to trade her cow for prize money.

"At the prize-giving ceremony, they told me to give the cow back and they'd give me a cheque," Vonn was quoted as saying. 

"I freaked out at them. 'No, you can't take her away. You said she was my cow.'"

Olympe was ultimately the start of three generations of cows, with one of the two calves it gave birth to also subsequently having calves of their own. 

The cows, which Vonn keeps in Kirchberg in Austria, were joined by a goat won at the 2009 Alpine Skiing World Championships, also held in Val d'Isère.

Skiing's position in the strange sporting prizes stakes is challenged impressively by cycling, with a wide and often strange array of prizes on offer. Many are due to either sponsorship or the local region.

The Tro-Bro Léon is an example of the latter, with the one-day race in Brittany offering a challenging course of cobblestones and gravel roads. 

As well as the actual winner of the race, who receives a trophy, the top Breton is rewarded for their efforts…with a piglet.

Cyclists have often been rewarded for their accomplishments with nutritious offerings from organisers. Britain's Mark Cavendish was pictured with a few kilograms worth of bananas in 2015, with the bunches presented to the sprinter following success on a stage of the Tour of Turkey.

This was considerably eclipsed by the Arctic Race of Norway, which highlights one of the country's biggest exports in its prize for winners. 

As the victors of the climbers' classification at the Arctic Race of Norway in recent years, Austria's Bernhard Eisel and Italy's Gianni Moscon have been among those to pick up the salmon jersey - you can see where this is going - and 500 kilograms of finest Norwegian salmon.

While a brilliant advertisement for Norwegian salmon, there are clearly some logistical issues surrounding its delivery.

Kegs of beer have also been among prizes in the past, although the benefits of this to a cyclist are less clear than either bananas or salmon.

While it might at first seem a strange prize, the cobblestone awarded to the winner of the Paris-Roubaix cobbled classic - the Hell of the North - has to be one of the best trophies on offer in the sport.

The best, however, surely goes to the Tirreno-Adriatico, nicknamed the Race of the Two Seas. The winner of the general classification is awarded a large golden trident, often associated with Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.

Tennis and golf tournaments have been known for some of their more elaborate trophies, with the Dubai Championships featuring one of the most extravagant in the former. 

Roger Federer and Andy Murray have been among those to pose with the silver boat winner's trophy at the tournament.

The winners of the Safeway Open golf tournament become proud recipients of a barrel, although it is unclear whether wine is inside the prize at the Californian event.

The Hero World Challenge event, hosted by Tiger Woods, both fittingly and strangely has a winner's trophy depicting a tiger cradling the world.

One of the strangest golf trophies has to be the one provided by the now defunct Nelson Mandela Championship. 

Sponsored by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, the trophy depicts the former South African President sat in a chair reading to children. 

While the link to the charity is obvious, its connection to golf was extremely limited.

American sports have provided a few unusual awards for winners, with lobsters, grandfather clocks and a Spongebob Squarepants trophy having all featured as prizes in Nascar at one stage.

The Portland Timbers football team have one of the best in-house prizes. The Major League Soccer team have a tradition in which a round from a log slab is cut after each goal scored by the home team. 

The club’s own website states that "amidst a cloud of sawdust and the roar of a chainsaw, fans celebrate".

The goalscorer is presented with their round of the log following the game. Goalkeepers are also able to secure their own part of the log, should they keep a clean sheet.

It is claimed that nearly four to five logs are used throughout the season, with mascot Timber Joey responsible for sawing. 

The team also run a "Score A Goal, Plant A Tree" programme which seeks to commemorate goals scored during their campaign.

Given the wide variety of prizes across sports, whether it is animals, trophies or logs, you have to wonder what some of the most successful athletes' trophy cabinets and houses look like.