Olympians including U.S. star Kris Freeman, college student-athletes and citizens will mingle this week as the U.S. cross country ski championships conclude at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.

The championships, which also double as the finals for the USSA (United States Ski Association) SuperTour, begin Friday with pursuit races for men and women, and wrap up Sunday with men’s and women’s marathons.

There will also be a team freestyle sprint race, the Northern Skiers Cash Sprints, Wednesday night at the Caribou High School Ski Center. That race is a TAMC (The Aroostook Medical Center) International Spring Series event.

Teams have already started to practice at the Nordic Heritage course and conditions are good, according to an official.

“The reports are that the trails are holding up well and will continue to this weekend,” said Carol MacPherson, the Nordic Heritage club treasurer who is serving as the competition secretary this week.

“We had someone walk through here earlier who said it’s supposed to get cold and windy, which should preserve what we have,” she added.

There are around 200 entrants, including athletes who registered for all three events, MacPherson added.

Wednesday’s events start at 4 p.m. with a County Middle School sprint with more than 150 youngsters expected to participate. The elite two-person men’s and women’s team sprints will start at 5 p.m. with each skier completing a 1-kilometer loop before tagging off to a partner. There will be a semifinal round with the top four teams advancing to the finals.

The top team receives $250, while second place pays $125, third $75 and fourth $50.

The sprints will be followed by an award ceremony and a pasta dinner sponsored by the Caribou Rotary Club in the high school cafeteria.

The men’s 30-kilometer pursuit (15K classic and 15K freestyle) starts at 9 a.m. Friday followed by a women’s 15K pursuit (7.5K classic, 7.5K freestyle).

Following a training day Saturday, the marathon freestyle races will be held Sunday starting with the women’s 30K at 9 a.m., a junior and masters women’s 20K at 9:05 and then the men’s 50K at 11 a.m., a junior and masters men’s race at 11:05 and a citizen’s 12.5K at 11:10.

Freeman, a two-time Olympian from Andover, N.H., who in January won two gold medals at the short-distance national championships in Houghton, Mich., will defend his 2006 pursuit and 50K titles.

Other Olympians expected in Presque Isle this week include James Southam of Anchorage, Alaska, Lindsey Weier of Mahtomedi, Minn., and Lindsay Williams of Hastings, Minn. Weier and Williams, who are teammates at Northern Michigan University, won 2007 NCAA titles in the 15K classic and 5K freestyle races, respectively.

Several Maine Winter Sports Center athletes will also participate.

Officials at the Nordic Heritage Center, which is part of the Maine Winter Sports Center, will also announce Thursday that the center has been selected to host a major event for 2009.

Immediately after the pursuit races Friday the MWSC will honor Max Saenger, one of the center’s first employees and the current vice president for economic development, who is leaving Maine in late April to be the biathlon sport manager for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.