Jessie Holmes repeated as champion of the Iditarod sled dog race, crossing the finish line Tuesday night in Nome, Alaska, in a time of nine days, 7 hours and 32 minutes. Holmes guided a team of 12 dogs on the roughly 1,000-mile route, completing the grueling journey that began March 8 in Willow and ended along the Bering Sea coastline.
Holmes, who is a former cast member on the National Geographic reality series “Life Below Zero,” said the repeat win reflected a mindset he has carried since his first title. Speaking after reaching Nome, Holmes told The Associated Press that he had been chasing “greatness” since returning to the race and described the decision as pushing himself each day to be better.
Holmes did not portray the victory as a simple repeat of last year’s strategy. He described how his team’s lead-dog roles shifted during the run, saying that Zeus, one of his lead dogs, led every run except one. Holmes said he held back older lead dog Polar so the veteran would not have to do as much work earlier in the race, then brought Polar into the rotation after the last checkpoint before Nome.
Holmes said the move paid off when Polar was put up near the end. He described Polar’s response in vivid terms, saying the dog “puffed his chest out,” “got his strut on” and appeared ready to push forward, a moment Holmes said made an impression during the final stretch.
The win placed Holmes in a small group of repeat champions in the Iditarod’s 54-year history. Holmes became the third competitor to win in back-to-back years, following Susan Butcher in 1986-1987 and Lance Mackey in 2007-2008. Butcher and Mackey each went on to win four titles, according to the Associated Press report, while Holmes said he will aim next year for a third win and to break the record for the southern route, which he described as the team’s favorite.
Holmes’s prize money for this year’s victory was about $80,000, up from the $57,000-plus he took home last year, the Associated Press reported. This year’s purse received financial support linked to Kjell Rokke, a Norwegian billionaire who reached Nome on Monday under rules for a newly created noncompetitive amateur category that allowed outside support, flexible rest periods and the ability to swap out dogs.
The Associated Press report said Rokke provided $100,000 in additional prize money and $170,000 for Alaska Native villages that serve as checkpoints. Another musher in the noncompetitive “expedition” class, Canadian entrepreneur Steve Curtis, pledged $50,000 to help youth sports programs in the villages, though Curtis did not finish the race.
Beyond the awards and new participation formats, the race continued to draw scrutiny from animal welfare groups. The Associated Press report said PETA has claimed that more than 150 dogs have died in the history of the Iditarod and urged Rokke to spend money helping dogs rather than putting them through “hazards and misery.” The Iditarod has not provided its own count of dogs who have died across its history.
For the 2026 race, the Iditarod said one dog died during the competition. The race identified the animal as a 4-year-old female named Charly on musher Mille Porsild’s team, and it said a necropsy would be conducted. The Associated Press report also said 34 competitive mushers started the race, matching the inaugural 1973 field for the second fewest in race history.
Holmes has been a frequent presence near the top of the leaderboard. His first Iditarod came in 2018, when his seventh-place finish earned him rookie of the year honors, and he has raced nine times total with seven top-10 finishes. In the last five races, Holmes has been in the top five, the Associated Press reported, a record that set the stage for him to become the latest rare back-to-back Iditarod champion.