Norwegian musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom has won Iditarod XLVI, pulling into Nome a little after 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.

After years of hard work, Ulsom arrived under the burled arch in 9 days and 12 hours with eight dogs. "Awesome, fantastic, unreal," he said to a Channel 2 crew about winning.

The new truck that comes with a first-place finish for Iditarod couldn't come soon enough for Ulsom. Both tires and his rear axle fell off his truck while driving on a highway before the race start and three tow trucks were needed to bring it to a mechanic.For the estimated $50,000 in prize money, Ulsom said all of it would be going back to the dogs.

In lead for Ulsom were three-year-old Olive and four-year-old Russeren. A veterinarian told Ulsom that Russeren had parvo as a puppy, a much-feared virus for mushers that regularly proves fatal, and that the dog would not survive.

Nicolas Petit came in second to Nome and three-time Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey is set to come third. Congratulations and messages of support came in for Ulsom from across the mushing world, including from four-time Iditarod champions Dallas Seavey and Jeff King.

Seavey’s Facebook page lit up with the hashtag #roarforjoar while King told a Channel 2 crew in Unalakleet that he was “rooting for Joar.” "[He] has shown an air of caution that is serving him well,” said King.

2018 is the first time a member of the Seavey family has not won Iditarod since John Baker took first in 2011. King said he was "ready for a new champion, as much as I love the Seavey dynasty."

Ulsom, 31, is also the second musher from Norway to come first in Iditarod after Robert Sørlie pulled off victories in 2003 and 2005. Ulsom spoke about the influence Sørlie had on him growing up. “I’ve been watching Iditarod ever since Robert won it, that was huge. I was a kid dreaming about one day maybe winning this race."

His victory is the first for his kennel Team Beringia and adds to his enviable record at the Last Great Race: He has started six times, finished six times and always placed seventh or higher. His first race in 2013 saw him place fourth, finish as the fastest rookie in the race’s history and win the coveted rookie of the year award.

The 2018 race for first place had been hotly contested by Ulsom, Petit and Seavey but it had not been entirely smooth sailing for the first three: The race leader got lost on the Bering Sea coast, a checkpoint was closed for layovers on the Yukon River and Ulsom enacted a risky strategy pushing on to the Iditarod checkpoint through soft snow for his 24-hour layover.

On Monday morning, Petit was comfortably leading when he took the wrong trail between Shaktoolik and Koyuk, costing him hours backtracking to the right trail. Ulsom was able to leapfrog Petit and pull into Koyuk a full hour in front of the French musher.

"He is going to be thinking about that for a long time," said Ulsom. The Norwegian had some words of encouragement for Petit, saying "he has an amazing team, he'll be back and do good."

Race director Mark Nordman said trailbreakers had put out lath to mark the trail but whiteout conditions on the Bering Sea coast are typical for the race. “That’s Iditarod,” said Nordman.

A second decisive moment occurred a few hours later: Ulsom left the Koyuk checkpoint only a few miles in front of Petit. He chose to blow through the Elim checkpoint telling the Iditarod insider crew that he “decided to keep going because [the team] looked so good.”

Petit rested for over two hours in Elim and arrived in White Mountain over three hours behind Ulsom.

After their mandatory 8-hour layovers in White Mountain, Ulsom set off with 12 dogs in harness for the final 77 mile push to Nome. Petit left White Mountain three hours later with 10 dogs, seemingly resigned to second place.

Earlier in the race, Ulsom didn’t seem quite so confident about his decision to push ahead from Ophir to Iditarod. "I was thinking like it was a really stupid move breaking trail and going so slow."

In a press conference after the race, Ulsom described that he had planned to stop for a long break in Ophir but pushed on regardless. He left so quickly that he forgot to pack food for himself. "I was like, wow, I am going to be a hungry guy."

He described the torturous conditions driving his team over a trail that had blown over with fresh snow. "I've been standing on one runner, kicking the whole freaking way. You know, it's a lot of pressure on one foot and it's like three million squats."

As Ulsom waited to complete his 24-hour layover, Petit and Seavey overtook him, allowing Petit to be the first musher into Anvik, the first checkpoint on the Yukon River.

A long push from Grayling to Kaltag saw Petit look to be in control of Iditarod XLVI.

Ulsom spoke to a Channel 2 crew in Grayling and seemed less confident about his position in the race. "I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a lot more mushers competing in this race because I think the teams with more rest are going to catch up pretty soon."

Petit arrived in Unalakleet almost four hours ahead of Seavey and Ulsom and prepared for a push up the coast. He told a Channel 2 crew in the coastal checkpoint that he had passed Seavey and Ulsom and got a boost in confidence. "I already know we have a fast dog team, we don't get passed too much."

Up the coast and Petit and Ulsom were pulling ahead of Seavey, turning a three-way fight into more of a duel. Seavey told an Iditarod insider crew in Elim that he "trained for a whole different kind of race."

Petit then had his disastrous run to Koyuk which was a full five hours longer than Ulsom's.

Arriving in White Mountain, Petit was reflective as he spoke to the Iditarod insider crew. He said the race would be a good preparation for next year and offered his congratulations to Ulsom.</s>NOME, Alaska (CN) – A Norwegian flag waved in the background in the wee hours Wednesday, as Norway’s Joar Leifseth Ulsom crossed under the burled arch that marks the finish of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Leifseth Ulsom, 31, from Mo i Rana, Norway, is the second Norwegian in the 46-year history of the 1,000-mile race to claim the top spot. Robert Sorlie of Hurdal won the race in 2003 and 2005, and Leifseth Ulsom credits Sorlie for inspiring him as a youth.

“It’s pretty unreal that we pulled it off,” Leifseth Ulsom said at the finish. “It’s out of this world.”

Eight dogs in harness, out of 16 starters, brought Leifseth Ulsom down the snow covered Front Street after 9 days, 12 hours on the trail of what is dubbed the “last great race on earth.”

As friends and spectators gathered in 4-degree weather to cheer the 2018 champion, lead dog Olive licked Leifseth Ulsom’s forehead as they posed for pictures. “She has done an awesome job,” Leifseth Ulsom said of Olive.

In a bit of weather-induced drama on Monday, Leifseth Ulsom was running in second place and hours behind Nicolas Petit, who seemed poised to win after having been in the lead for most of the race until about 777-mile mark.

Leaving the checkpoint of Shaktoolik, a somewhat desolate spot on the Norton Sound coast, Petit lost sight of the trail markers in the blowing snow while crossing the ice heading to the next checkpoint of Koyuk. This part of the trail is known for ground blizzards and monotonous stretches of nothing but white ice where teams have stalled in past races

While the French-born Petit, 38, was backtracking to regain the trail, Leifseth Ulsom unknowingly took the lead. He found out he had passed Petit as he pulled in as the first team to Koyuk. Petit was unable to make up the lost time and finished second.

The deep snow and blowing whiteout conditions slowed this year’s race considerably from 2017 record time of 8 days, 3 hours when Mitch Seavey won. By early Wednesday, Seavey was nearing the finish in third place.

Leifseth Ulsom ran his first Iditarod in 2013, decisively claiming rookie of the year honors by not only being the fastest rookie that year but also the fastest rookie to have ever run Iditarod with a seventh-place finish. He has also placed among the top seven in all six of his Iditarod starts.

As a kid in Norway, Leifseth Ulsom got his start by borrowing his neighbor’s two house dogs to pull him around on skis. Watching Iditarod movies fueled his dreams and led him to build his own dog team.

In 2011, he moved to Alaska to begin training full-time with his small kennel of dogs – many brought directly from Norway to Alaska – and joined with Russian teammates as part of Team Racing Beringia.

Racing Beringia is an online education program for students in K-12 classrooms around the world to explore the region of Beringia, which spans from the Yukon in Canada across Alaska to Chukotka, Russia.

Leifseth Ulsom and his team have raced throughout the Beringia region including the Iditarod, the Yukon Quest, that runs between Alaska and Canada, and the Nadezhda Hope race in Chukotka, Russia. Leifseth Ulsom is a two-time winner of the later race.

This year 67 teams started the race on March 4. So far eight have “scratched,” calling an early end to their race due to their own personal injuries on the trail, dog illness or lack of enthusiasm. Racers will trickle in over the course of this week until the finisher’s banquet Sunday and the red lantern is doused to signify the last musher is off the trail.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 14 (Reuters) - A Norwegian musher won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early on Wednesday, notching the third victory ever for his home country in the 46-year history of the annual 1,000-mile (1609-km) trek across Alaska's wilderness.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom, the dogsled driver, arrived at the finish line shortly after 2:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT) after nine days and 12 hours to become the second Norwegian to win the 1,000-mile Iditarod. Countryman Robert Sorlie won twice before - in 2003 and again in 2005.

Ulsom was greeted by Nome´s mayor and crowds of fans who lined Nome´s snow-covered Front Street, including one waving a Norwegian flag.

In the finish chute, Ulsom said he had dreamed of winning the Iditarod ever since Sorlie did.

"It´s pretty unreal that we pulled it off," he said.

Deep snow and warmer weather, with temperatures at times topping the freezing mark, slowed the pace of this year's race. Last year, three-time winner Mitch Seavey set a record of eight days, three hours, 40 minutes and 13 seconds in hard-packed conditions.

Ulsom, driving a team of eight dogs, jumped into first place on Monday when he passed French native Nicolas Petit on the Bering Sea ice. Petit, who had held a comfortable lead, went astray as he ventured into blowing snow and lost the trail, forcing him to backtrack.

Petit told the Anchorage Daily News that he was led off-course by some markers left over from the Iron Dog snowmobile race.

By midday on Tuesday, Ulsom and Petit and their dogs had paused in the Inupiat Eskimo village of White Mountain, a mandatory eight-hour rest stop before the final dash to the finish line in Nome, a coastal Gold Rush town 77 miles (124 km)to the west.

The 31-year-old Ulsom, from the Norwegian town of Mo i Rana, just south of the Arctic Circle, has finished in the top seven in all of his past Iditarod races, and was the fastest-ever rookie in 2013.

Petit, 36, grew up in France's Normandy region and moved to Alaska in 1992. He lives in the ski town of Girdwood.

Sixty-seven mushers and their dogs started the Iditarod in Anchorage on March 3. As of Wednesday morning, eight had dropped out. Most Iditarod mushers are from Alaska, but each year several Norwegians compete in the race.

Ulsom and the other Iditarod mushers who follow him across the finish line over the next several hours and days will split a $500,000 prize purse. As first-place champion, Ulsom also will get a new pickup truck.

Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, Mitch Seavey's son, withdrew from this year's Iditarod following a dog-doping scandal. Four of his dogs tested positive for a banned opioid after last year's race. Seavey has said he is innocent, accused Iditarod officials of botching his case and suggested that he was the victim of sabotage.

Instead, the younger Seavey was in Norway during the Iditarod, where he was leading in the 1,100-kilometer (682-mile) Finnmarksløpet. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)</s>Joar Ulsom of Norway has won the world's most famous sled dog race after a grueling dash across Alaska's rough terrain.

After nearly 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers), Ulsom came off the Bering Sea ice just outside Nome and ran the last few blocks as a crowd cheered him on. He becomes the third person born outside the U.S. to claim the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

He picks up about $50,000, a drop from the 2017 winner's earnings of more than $71,000.

The race is suffering financially and has lost a major sponsor in the last year. Organizers have blamed animal rights activists for putting pressure on sponsors.

The Iditarod also has been marked by fallout from its first-ever dog doping scandal. New rules this year made mushers responsible for any positive drug test.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Joar Ulsom of Norway won the world's most famous sled dog race Wednesday after a grueling dash across Alaska's rough terrain, but he earned tens of thousands of dollars less than last year's top musher at the struggling Iditarod.

"It's pretty unreal I pulled it off," Ulsom told reporters at the finish line in Nome, Alaska.

After nearly 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers), Ulsom and the eight dogs on his team came off the Bering Sea ice onto Nome's main street. He slapped hands with fans who lined the streets and went under the finish line at 3 a.m. local time Wednesday.

"I don't know what to say about it. It's out of this world," he said before hugging each of his dogs. His supporters crowded the finish line, one waving Norway's flag.

Ulsom's victory generated heavy media attention in Norway, a winter sports nation still basking in the glory of winning the most medals at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

"This is completely insane. It's fantastic to win this race here," Ulsom said, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It was rather tough. It was hard to keep my tears back when I crossed the finish line."

The 31-year-old, who took the lead Monday when Nicolas Petit got off course in a blizzard, became the third person born outside the U.S. to claim the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He's also the second Norwegian after Robert Sorlie, a two-time winner who cheered Ulsom's progress along the trail.

Ulsom said he had no idea he had taken the lead when Petit got off course. He saw a sled track ahead of him, and figured he would find someone resting at the checkpoint.

It was a pleasant surprise when he found out he was the first musher to arrive, and figured he had "a good shot at taking it home then."

Ulsom moved in 2011 from Norway to Willow, Alaska, the dog mushing capital of the U.S. He first entered the Iditarod in 2013, when he was named rookie of the year, and has never finished below seventh place. His previous best finishes were fourth-place rankings in both 2017 and 2014.

Ulsom picks up about $50,000, a drop from the 2017 winner's earnings of more than $71,000.

The race, which began March 4, has been suffering financially and lost the Wells Fargo bank as a major sponsor over the last year. Organizers have blamed animal rights activists for putting pressure on sponsors.

The Iditarod also was marked by fallout from its first-ever dog doping scandal. Race officials announced that the team of four-time champion Dallas Seavey tested positive for the opioid painkiller tramadol after his second-place finish last March but said they could not prove he gave the drug to his dogs.

Officials did not punish Seavey but changed race rules to make mushers responsible for any positive drug tests. Seavey, who won four titles between 2012 and 2016, denied giving drugs to his dogs and sat out this year's race in protest.

The Iditarod also reprimanded but did not fire the head of its drug testing program on Monday after a musher claimed Dr. Morrie Craig threatened him minutes before the race's start.

Musher Wade Marrs said Craig threatened to expose him as another musher who had a positive drug test last year. Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George has said Seavey's team had the only positive test.

Marrs, who is president of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, said he felt Craig was trying to punish him for criticizing how the race handled Seavey's case and to silence him before a mushers meeting this week.

The Iditarod said the context and intent of the conversation between Marrs and Craig differed but acknowledged that it was ill-timed. Officials also said Craig should only communicate test results to board members and that any further actions deemed detrimental to the race would result in further disciplinary action, including possible termination.

Sixty-seven mushers started the race north of Anchorage. Eight of those, including Marrs, left the race.

Associated Press writer Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Joar Ulsom of Norway won the world’s most famous sled dog race Wednesday after a grueling dash across Alaska’s rough terrain, but he earned tens of thousands of dollars less than last year’s top musher at the struggling Iditarod.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Joar Ulsom of Norway won the world’s most famous sled dog race Wednesday after a grueling dash across Alaska’s rough terrain, but he earned tens of thousands of dollars less than last year’s top musher at the struggling Iditarod.

After nearly 1,000 miles, Ulsom came off the Bering Sea ice just outside Nome and ran the last few blocks as a crowd cheered him on. The 31-year-old, who took the lead Monday when Nicolas Petit got off course in a blizzard, became the third person born outside the U.S. to claim the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Ulsom moved in 2011 from Norway to Willow, Alaska, the dog mushing capital of the U.S. He first entered the Iditarod in 2013, when he was named rookie of the year, and has never finished below seventh place. His previous best finishes were fourth-place rankings in both 2017 and 2014.

Ulsom picks up about $50,000, a drop from the 2017 winner’s earnings of more than $71,000.

The race, which began March 4, has been suffering financially and lost Wells Fargo bank as a major sponsor in the last year. Organizers have blamed animal rights activists for putting pressure on sponsors.

The Iditarod also was marked by fallout from its first-ever dog doping scandal. Race officials announced that the team of four-time champion Dallas Seavey tested positive for an opioid painkiller after his second-place finish last March but said they could not prove he gave tramadol to his dogs.

Officials didn’t punish Seavey but changed race rules to make mushers responsible for any positive drug test. Seavey, who won four titles between 2012 and 2016, denied giving drugs to his dogs and sat out this year’s race in protest.

The Iditarod also reprimanded but didn’t fire the head of its drug testing program on Monday after a musher claimed Dr. Morrie Craig threatened him minutes before the race’s start.

Musher Wade Marrs said Craig threatened to expose him as another musher who had a positive drug test last year. Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George has said Seavey’s team had the only positive test.

Marrs, who is president of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, said he felt Craig was trying to punish him for criticizing how the race handled Seavey’s case and to silence him before a mushers meeting this week.

The Iditarod said the context and intent of the conversation between Marrs and Craig differed but acknowledged that it was ill-timed. Officials also said Craig should only communicate test results to board members and that any further actions deemed detrimental to the race would result in further disciplinary action, including possible termination.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Joar Ulsom of Norway won the world's most famous sled dog race Wednesday after a grueling dash across Alaska's rough terrain, but he earned tens of thousands of dollars less than last year's top musher at the struggling Iditarod.

"It's pretty unreal I pulled it off," Ulsom told reporters at the finish line in Nome, Alaska.

After nearly 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometres), Ulsom and the eight dogs on his team came off the Bering Sea ice onto Nome's main street. He slapped hands with fans who lined the streets and went under the finish line at 3 a.m. local time Wednesday.

"I don't know what to say about it. It's out of this world," he said before hugging each of his dogs. His supporters crowded the finish line, and one waved the flag of Norway.

The 31-year-old, who took the lead Monday when Nicolas Petit got off course in a blizzard, became the third person born outside the U.S. to claim the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He's also the second Norwegian after Robert Sorlie, a two-time winner who cheered Ulsom's progress along the trail.

Ulsom said he had no idea he had taken the lead when Petit got off course. He saw a sled track ahead of him, and figured he would find someone resting at the checkpoint.

It was a pleasant surprise when he found out he was the first musher to arrive, and figured he had "a good shot at taking it home then."

Ulsom moved in 2011 from Norway to Willow, Alaska, the dog mushing capital of the U.S. He first entered the Iditarod in 2013, when he was named rookie of the year, and has never finished below seventh place. His previous best finishes were fourth-place rankings in both 2017 and 2014.

Ulsom picks up about $50,000, a drop from the 2017 winner's earnings of more than $71,000.

The race, which began March 4, has been suffering financially and lost Wells Fargo bank as a major sponsor in the last year. Organizers have blamed animal rights activists for putting pressure on sponsors.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska: A Norwegian musher was poised on Tuesday to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and notch the third victory ever for his home country in 46 years of the annual 1,000-mile (1609-km) trek across Alaska's wilderness.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom jumped into first place of the world's most famous sled-dog race on Monday when he passed French native Nicolas Petit on the Bering Sea ice. Petit, who had held a comfortable lead, went astray as he ventured into blowing snow and lost the trail, forcing him to backtrack.

Petit told the Anchorage Daily News that he was led off-course by some markers left over from the Iron Dog snowmobile race.

By midday on Tuesday, Ulsom and Petit and their dogs had paused in the Inupiat Eskimo village of White Mountain, a mandatory eight-hour rest stop before the final dash to the finish line in Nome, a coastal Gold Rush town 77 miles (124 km)to the west.

Ulsom, who arrived 3-1/2 hours ahead of Petit, was expected to return to the trail in the afternoon and arrive at the finish line sometime after midnight, capping nine days of competition.

If he prevails, Ulsom will become the second Norwegian to win the 1,000-mile Iditarod. Countryman Robert Sorlie won twice before - in 2003 and again in 2005.

From the Norwegian town of Mo i Rana, just south of the Arctic Circle, the 31-year-old Ulsom has built an impressive international mushing record.

He has finished in the top seven in all seven of his past Iditarod races, and was the fastest-ever rookie in 2013. He is a two-time winner of the long-distance Nadezhda Hope race in Russia's Chukotka region, and won a 2012 sprint championship in Chukotka.

Petit also brings some international flair to the Iditarod. The 36-year-old contestant grew up in France's Normandy region and moved to Alaska in 1992. He lives in the ski town of Girdwood.

Sixty-seven mushers and their dogs started the Iditarod in Anchorage on March 3. As of Tuesday afternoon, six had dropped out of contention. Most Iditarod mushers are from Alaska, but each year there are several Norwegians in the race.

The Iditarod finishers will split a total US$500,000 prize purse, and the first-place champion also gets a new pickup truck.

As Ulsom and Petit waited out their last Iditarod rest, four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey was in Norway, where he was leading in the 1,100-kilometer (682-mile) Finnmarksløpet.

Seavey, at the centre of a dog-doping scandal, withdrew from this year's Iditarod. Four of his dogs tested positive for a banned opioid after last year's race, but he has proclaimed his innocence and has accused Iditarod managers of botching his case. He has also suggested that he was the victim of sabotage.</s>Joar Ulsom of Norway won the world’s most famous sled dog race after a gruelling dash across Alaska’s rough terrain, but he earned tens of thousands of dollars less than last year’s top musher at the struggling Iditarod.

“It’s pretty unreal I pulled it off,” Ulsom told reporters at the finish line in Nome, Alaska.

After nearly 1,000 miles from north of Anchorage, Ulsom and the eight dogs on his team came off the Bering Sea ice onto Nome’s main street to cross the finish line at 3am local time.

“I don’t know what to say about it. It’s out of this world,” he said before hugging each of his dogs.

His supporters crowded the finish line, one waving Norway’s flag.

Ulsom’s victory generated heavy media attention in Norway, a winter sports nation still basking in the glory of winning the most medals at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“This is completely insane. It’s fantastic to win this race here,” Ulsom said, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

“It was rather tough. It was hard to keep my tears back when I crossed the finish line.”

The 31-year-old, who took the lead on Monday when Nicolas Petit got off course in a blizzard, became the third person born outside the US to claim the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

He is also the second Norwegian after Robert Sorlie, a two-time winner who cheered Ulsom’s progress along the trail.

Ulsom said he had no idea he had taken the lead when Petit got off course.

He saw a sled track ahead of him, and thought he would find someone resting at the checkpoint.

It was a pleasant surprise when he found out he was the first musher to arrive, and figured he had “a good shot at taking it home then”.

Ulsom moved in 2011 from Norway to Willow, Alaska, the dog mushing capital of the US.

He first entered the Iditarod in 2013, when he was named rookie of the year, and has never finished below seventh place.

His previous best finishes were fourth-place rankings in both 2017 and 2014.

Ulsom picks up about 50,000 US dollars, a drop from the 2017 winner’s earnings of more than 71,000 US dollars.

The race, which began on March 4, has been suffering financially and lost the Wells Fargo bank as a major sponsor over the last year.

Organisers have blamed animal rights activists for putting pressure on sponsors.

The Iditarod also was marked by fallout from its first-ever dog doping scandal.

Eight have withdrawn during the race.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Joar Ulsom said a few words in English but used his native Norwegian to heap praise on his dog team Tuesday as he arrived at the second-to-last checkpoint in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Ulsom held a commanding lead in the world's most famous sled dog race, and after a mandatory eight-hour rest, he was hours from the finish line in Nome.

He arrived in White Mountain just before 8 a.m., and left shortly before 4 p.m. For being first to the checkpoint, he picked up a $2,500 check.

"Wow, that's fantastic," he told sponsors in a video posted on the Iditarod website.

Then he switched to his native tongue to speak to each of his dogs before laying out straw over the snow for them to bed down for a snooze.

Ulsom arrived in the checkpoint with a nearly three-hour lead on the second place musher, Nic Petit, a native of France living south of Anchorage.

Barring any catastrophes, Ulsom, a native of Norway who has been living in Willow, Alaska, the dog mushing capital of the United States, is on track to reach the finish line sometime early Wednesday. The winner will be awarded about $50,000 and a new pickup.

If Ulsom wins, he will become the third Iditarod winner born outside the United States. Martin Buser, a Swiss native who has lived in Alaska more than three decades, became a U.S. citizen after winning his fourth Iditarod in 2002. Another Norwegian, Robert Sorlie, won the race in 2003 and 2005.

Defending champion Mitch Seavey is in third place. If he doesn't win, it will be the first time since 2011 that Seavey or his son, Dallas, hasn't won the race. In a video on the Iditarod website, Seavey cited slow trail conditions.

"I trained for a whole different kind of race," he said.

Dallas Seavey, a four-time champion, withdrew from this year's Iditarod in protest after race organizers said his dog team tested positive for an opioid painkiller after last year's race, when he finished second. Seavey denied giving his drugs tramadol, and decided to run a race in Norway instead of the Iditarod.

Sixty-seven mushers began the nearly 1,000 mile (1,609 kilometer) race across the Alaska wilderness March 4 in Willow. Since then, eight mushers have scratched.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Norwegian musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom wins the 2018 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.