FORT KENT – What was supposed to be a relatively routine Saturday morning for the U.S. biathlon team turned rather hectic when the Americans found out that Rachel Steer was going to compete in the World Cup’s mass start, an event in which the top 30-ranked biathletes in the world compete.

Steer didn’t gain a spot because she’s one of those top 30. She got in because other athletes in the field dropped out.

Otherwise, no U.S. athletes were even close to being in the top 30. Biathlon is a sport dominated by European nations like Germany, Norway and Russia. So can the U.S. ever reach that level? U.S. Biathlon executive director Steve Sands certainly hopes so, but he believes it’s going to take a better effort at the grassroots level.

The Maine Winter Sports Center sites in Fort Kent and Presque Isle will be a part of that.

“I think we’re doing a good job in the U.S. of building a feeder system and certainly Fort Kent and Presque Isle are tremendous additions to the feeder system,” he said last week. “When you start in a place like this it takes a while for the youth to work their way up but they’re gonna be there in a few years.”

The USBA also has connections to facilities – called Regional Centers of Excellence – in Jericho, Vt., Soldier Hollow, Utah, and three sites in Minnesota.

The emphasis is on developing junior athletes.

According the USBA Web site there are registered biathlon clubs in 13 states.

Sara Granroth of Yarmouth, the only member of the U.S. team from Maine, learned about biathlon in northern Michigan because she had no opportunities to learn in Maine.

“I know there are little kids here who see it and ask questions like how do you get a rifle [and] start shooting,” she said after competing in the pursuit event Friday. “So if there are more places like this I think kids will see it more and pick it up.”

Encouraging youngsters to take up the sport is fine for the future, but growing the sport now won’t help the U.S. team as the 2006 Winter Olympics loom.

To that end, Sands and U.S. team coach Algis Shalna are heading to Colorado Springs, Colo., to present their plan for the Games, which will be held in Turin, Italy, to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“Hopefully the Olympic committee will assist us with what we need to better prepare the team and get them ready through next season,” Sands said.

The USBA is hoping the American athletes will have a strong showing in next year’s world championships and World Cup tour in order to qualify more of them for the Olympics.

The U.S. team was able to add two athletes, Lanny Barnes and Mark Matheny, to the roster for the World Cup events held over the last two weeks in Lake Placid, N.Y. and then Fort Kent.

Barnes finished 47th in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint and qualified for the 10K pursuit, where she placed 45th. Matheny was 65th in the men’s 10K sprint and so did not qualify for the pursuit (only the top 60 finishers in the sprint can move on to the pursuit).

“For those athletes we currently have, I think they’ve got more potential,” Sands said. “We need to work with them more in the system, but I think by [Turin] we’ll be a lot closer to mass starts and pursuits.”

Granroth was just excited to see the crowds in the northern part of her state.

“The number of people up live up here, it seems like the entire County has turned out,” Granroth said. “It’s pretty impressive.”

Sands said he thinks the USBA’s membership of around 700, including 300 athletes, may be the smallest of the USOC-connected sports.

The USBA has been in existence for 26 years. Men’s biathlon has been an Olympic sport since 1960. Biathlon was added for women in 1992.