As Jessie and team ran their way into Nome after coming off of their final mountain crossing the musher waved and cheered to the Iditarod Insider cameras "Lucky number seven strikes again!" referencing his first Iditarod when he wore Bib Number 7 and became Rookie of the Year. In 2026 he wore Bib Number 7 to become one of the few repeat Iditarod Champions.
Holmes and team lead for much of the race, something rarely seen in this era of dog mushing. They won every "first to the" award in this years race, sharing those honors with no one. Most races have seen those that win the early first awards lose position on the coast, but not Jessie. Holmes managed to keep at least two hours over his next closest competitor throughout the race and by the time he reached White Mountain he extended that lead to nearly four.
Never showing the fastest average speed, it was all about strategy and team management. When things felt like they weren't going according to plan, Jessie pivoted. He wasn't feeling well himself at the beginning of the race so he held himself back. He 24ed earlier than expected in Takotna. He rested in Cripple and in Ruby. He didn't spend as much time as we normally see him camping outside of checkpoints. Holmes had time to talk with fans, volunteers, and other mushers. He put his team in their cuddle puddles and kept pace with his chores.
All the while faster teams threatened to catch him, but it didn't matter. He was playing a sort of cat and mouse game with them all. And now, in the end, he finished as the sun set over Nome, Alaska and the Bering Strait.
"I've been chasing greatness since I got here," Jessie Holmes said in his Insider interview under the arch, "Susan and Lance... gonna try and make it three, one of them made it four."
After being signed off the trail and finishing his Insider interview Holmes went to his sled bag and pulled out steaks for each of his canine teammates. As Insider's Greg Heister exclaimed the dogs were getting ribeyes, Jessie responded, "I called my handler and told her champagne and steaks!"
When asked how he did it Holmes said he ran the race how they run things, and that he gave his team ample rest. "If you want to do great things, you gotta be an original," the now two time champ said.
Several times while talking to Insider and KNOM and KTUU in the chute, Jessie Holmes got choked up talking about his dogs. "Dogs first," Holmes told the media, "these guys deserve all the recognition and all the glory."
Zeus and Polar were the dogs chosen by the musher to sit for the champion photo. While Greg Heister acknowledged that Jessie would want all twelve dogs up there (but the platform isn't big enough) Holmes gave another round of pets and good dogs to each team member before unhooking the two that would sit with him under the arch.
Jessie's team were confident when they ran into the chute and under the burled arch, and after snacking were banging in harness and screaming wanting to continue on (considering it's over 100 miles shorter than what they ran last year they no doubt thought they weren't done!)
"It's unimaginable how attached I am to these dogs right now. I'm attached all year long, but after what we went through on that trail..." Holmes choked out with Greg Heister as he watched his handlers run his team down to the dog lot while Holmes stayed behind to be awarded his check. The 2026 winners check came to $80,000 to which Jessie yelled out, "DOG FOOD! DOG BOOTIES!" before thanking all of the sponsors for the prize money.
"We'll be back," he told them, "and I hope you will be, too."
Jessie Holmes came into the finish in 9 days, 7 hours, 32 minutes, and 51 seconds. The two-time Iditarod Champion says they're going for three in 2027. There are twenty-nine teams still out on the trail.
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