Russell Currier has been on the biathlon world championship stage before. For the last five years, the Stockholm native has been a member of the U.S. team at the youth/junior worlds.

The stakes will get a lot higher for Currier today, however, when he competes for the U.S. in the mixed relay at the senior biathlon world championships in Ostersund, Sweden.

Currier will also compete in the 20-kilometer men’s individual race Thursday.

“I can only do my very best,” Currier said in an email from Sweden. “I don’t expect to be on top or even in the top 30. But I can compete with myself and try to have my personal best of the season.”

Currier, who competes for the Caribou-based Maine Winter Sports Center, will ski one of the four legs of the relay, which will also feature MWSC teammate Laura Spector of Lenox, Mass., along with Jeremy Teela of Anchorage, Alaska, and Tracy Barnes of Durango, Calif. Teela and Barnes both trained at the 10th Mountain Center in Fort Kent prior to the 2006 Olympics.

Each woman will ski two 6K loops, while the men will ski two 7.5K loops, with shooting in between for both.

This will be only the second time the U.S. has fielded a mixed relay team among the four times it has been a championship event.

The relay starts at 8 a.m. EST. The men’s individual will begin at 11 a.m. Live streaming coverage of the world championships is available at www.usbiathlon.org.

There are 19 teams entered in the mixed relay. The U.S. will start 15th.

Currier and Spector are the first junior athletes to compete for the U.S. in the senior championships since 1997.

It has already been a stellar winter for Currier, a 2006 Caribou High School graduate. While competing in his fifth Youth/Junior World Championships Currier posted his best-ever international finishes, a 15th place in the 15K individual and 10K sprint, and 20th in the 12.5K pursuit.

Currier, who always has among the fastest ski times in a given race, has seen big improvements in his shooting this winter. During last week’s Youth/Junior World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, he hit 75.7 percent of his overall targets and was 85 percent in the individual.

“My coach and I sat down and made a few minor changes with my rifle,” he said. “We didn’t make any significant changes in my training plan, however. Both ski speed and shooting really came around during January but the improvement in results is only to my expectations.”

He knew going into the youth/junior worlds that his results there might help get him into the senior competition. Currier was the top finisher among the U.S. junior men.

“It means a lot just to be here,” he said. “I intend on being on the team again in the future. This is only a small step in a very long-term goal.”

For now, Currier is enjoying his time mingling with the top biathlon athletes in the world.

“It’s nice to see some of the big-name athletes that I only hear about and see on TV out here training and racing on the same course as me,” he said. “It is also a little intimidating. … I haven’t worked up the courage to strike [up] a conversation yet.”

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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