A necropsy completed on a dog from musher Mille Porsild’s team that died during the 2026 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race failed to identify an exact cause of death, race officials said Friday.

In a prepared statement, the Iditarod said the necropsy on the dog named Charley “did not identify any obvious traumatic or medical abnormalities” to explain Charley’s death.

Charley, a 4-year-old, died en route to the Elim checkpoint Tuesday. At that time, Iditarod officials said the dog passed all prerace evaluations and veterinary testing.

Porsild, a 53-year-old veteran musher from Denmark who now lives in Willow, scratched in Elim later that day pursuant to the Iditarod’s Rule 42. The rule states that in the event of a death of a dog on their team, a musher can either voluntarily scratch or be withdrawn by race officials.

In Friday’s statement, the Iditarod said “further laboratory testing is being conducted in accordance with race protocol to support a thorough investigation and complete the necropsy, with every effort made to determine the cause of death.”

One dog died during the race in 2025 and three died in 2024.

On the trail, nine mushers continued the charge toward Nome after being held up at the White Mountain checkpoint — some for nearly two days.

The checkpoint is a mandatory 8-hour rest spot for mushers. But Kotzebue rookie Kevin Hansen arrived at the checkpoint on Wednesday at 3:08 p.m. and didn’t depart until Friday at 9:33 a.m.

That was due to a major windstorm that left Hansen and the remaining mushers in the field holding in place with their teams.

Rookie Sadie Lindquist, who arrived at White Mountain at 1:56 a.m. Thursday, was the first to leave Friday morning at 9:09 a.m.

She was joined within the hour by Hansen, Jason Mackey, Joseph Sabin, Sam Paperman, Keaton Loebrich and Sydnie Bahl.

By 10:30 a.m., mushers Richie Beattie and Brenda Mackey had pushed off toward Nome as well.

By Friday afternoon, Hansen was leading the group just 30 miles from Nome. Lindquist was just 4 miles behind as the dog teams closed in on the Safety checkpoint.

With their departures, all remaining competitors in this year’s race had left White Mountain.

Source: adn.com