Aroostook County will be well represented at this week’s biathlon World Junior Championships in Martell, Italy.

Between high school and college students, former world juniors competitors and members of the Maine Winter Sports Center team, five biathlon athletes out of 16 on the world juniors team will have some ties to northern Maine.

Russell Currier of Woodland, a 2006 Caribou High graduate, will make his fourth appearance at the world junior championships. Fort Kent’s Newt Rogers, who is taking a break from skiing for the University of Vermont, is on the team for the second time. University of Maine-Presque Isle student Brandon Ostroot, a Minnesota native, joins Currier and Rogers.

Meagan Toussaint, a 2005 Madawaska High School graduate who is also an UMPI student, is on the junior women’s team.

Hilary McNamee, who is a junior at Fort Fairfield High School, rounds out the County representatives. McNamee is on the youth women’s team, as she was last year.

The championships get under way today with a youth men’s 12.5-kilometer individual and a junior men’s 15K individual competition.

On Thursday the youth women will compete in their 10K individual, followed by the junior women in a 12.5K.

After an off day Friday, the competitions resume Saturday with sprint races for the youth women (6K), junior women (7.5K), youth men (7.5K) and junior men (10K).

There will be four pursuit races Sunday, starting with the youth women (7.5K) followed by the junior women (10K), youth men (10K) and junior men (12.5K).

The competitions wrap up with relay races Monday and Tuesday for the women and men, respectively. Both women’s age groups will do 3x6K races while the youth men will do a 3×7.5K and the junior men will do a 4×7.5K.