February 09, 2011 Fort Kent, ME – The rolling terrain and the typically New England white clap board houses dominate this picturesque area of rural Maine, in Aroostook County. At the confluence of the mighty St. John and Fish Rivers, just across from Clair, New Brunswick, Canada, the town of Fort Kent has a population of about 4,100 people.

It’s an area steeped in the time-honoured tradition of a vibrant potato and timber industry. It’s also an area, that within the last decade, has well earned a reputation as a venue for world-cup biathlon – that’s truly world class.

The biathlon world was first introduced at Fort Kent in 2004, when they hosted a very successful IBU world cup, with the trails being designed by Olympic biathlon legend John Morton in 1999, and 30 shooting lanes; the site has been licensed by the IBU since November of 2002.

As the E.on IBU world cup enters it’s final week in Maine’s North Country, big crowds are expected to be on hand, to witness the best in the world.

Expect continued strong performances from the exciting Finnish women including Kaisa Makarainen of Joensuu. She is Finland’s reigning, new biathlon star and is a former cross-country skier from a few years back.

Marie Dorin, who also performed well in Presque Isle last weekend, will be strong for the French, along with Sophie Boilley and Marie Laure Brunet of Villard de Lans who earned two medals at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The performances of the French men were also showcased in PI. Notably Olympic silver medalist young talent Martin Fourcade was strong scoring sprint silver and Vincent Jay and Alexis Boeuf helped aid France in taking the mixed relay silver medal at Presque Isle. On the final day Boeuf went on to score Pursuit gold.

The Germans – not unexpectedly – were very strong in Presque Isle, and there’s no reason that won’t continue here. With Michael Greis back and Arnd Peiffer skiing well they should be top notch. Greis was not at Presque Isle, ME last week but is here and planning to race starting Thursday.

Greis, from biathlon-mad Ruhpolding, took home three gold medals from the Torino 2006 Olympic Games, and has been an IBU overall world cup champion. Co-Race commentator, Chad Samela said the return of Greis and the Norwegian Emil Hegle Svensen makes the field that much stronger. “Nobody wants to win a world cup with an asterisk next to the results. Adding two of the top four guys in the world to the field makes a win that much more legitimate.”

Of course, the German women perhaps have the most depth in the world. Uber strong Andrea Henkel still is on form and her skiing last Sunday was very fast. The awesome Magdalena Neuner and Kathrin Hitzer can also win any race.

For Swedes with speed look no further than the smiling Helena Ekholm of Ostersund, who took a win in PI, and is widely considered to be one of the best shooters in the world. Star men’s performer Bjorn Ferry is here but has been out-skied by teammate Carl Johan Bergman in the Maine events.

Norway’s Tora Berger found the chops to take a win in the pursuit and a second in the women’s sprint and continues to ski and shoot well. The Norwegian men’s fortunes will be boosted in Fort Kent by the return to the US of their stud Svensen from Lillehammer, who took three medals in Vancouver. Plus, they’ll have Stryn’s Tarjei Boe, the world cup leader this season. He loves Maine having won the 2006 World Jr. Championships in nearby Presque Isle – he also shared a gold medal from Vancouver 2010 in the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

The Russians will lead with the likes of fine women talents such as Svetlana Sleptsova and Natalia Guseva. For men they feature bronze medalist in the 10km sprint at PI, Ivan Tcherezov, Maxim Tchoudov and Maxim Maksimov.

Boise, ID’s Sara Studebaker, a former Big Green skier, had a career-best 14th place performance in the 7.5km sprint in PI, and drew much confidence from that result. Watch for more improvement this week here from other US athletes Laura Spector and Haley Johnson.

The US men will include former UVM ace Lowell Bailey, Jay Hakkinen, Jeremy Teela, Tim Burke and Leif Nordgren. “Lowell has been in good ski form for the better part of a month now and with clean shooting he can be on the podium. Tim Burke is a question mark, though he’s come back from sickness several times in the past very quickly, so I wouldn’t want to write him off,” Samela added about the USA hopes.

The Canadians will have Jean Philippe Le Guellec, Nathan Smith, Scott Perras and Brendan Green. The Canuck ladies will include Rosanna Crawford and Claude Godbout.

Italy’s powerhouse, Michela Ponza cannot be underestimated, nor can Belarus’s star Darya Domracheva. Ditto for Valji Semerenko of the Ukraine.

The schedule will see the men’s 10km sprints on Thursday followed by the women’s 7.5km sprint on Friday. Saturday will feature Pursuit racing and Sunday will conclude this world cup stop with mass start events.