Maine native Adam Craig is one small step closer to earning a berth on the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s cross country mountain biking team.

Craig, a 26-year-old Exeter native who spends most of his time these days in Bend, Ore., was one of six competitors named this week to the U.S. Olympic Men’s Cross Country Mountain Biking Long Team of athletes eligible to earn a berth to the Beijing Olympics in August.

The selection was a formality for Craig, who finished 2007 as the nation’s top-ranked cross country mountain biker and 16th overall in the International Cycling Union World Cup point standings.

Craig and four others earned automatic nominations to the U.S. Long Team as the top five American riders in the UCI rankings as of Dec. 31, 2007, provided they were ranked among the top 60 riders worldwide.

Craig, winner of the 2007 Pan American Games gold medal, was joined by 2004 Olympians Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski of Boulder, Colo., and Todd Wells of Durango, Colo., along with Jeremiah Bishop of Harrisonburg, W.Va., and Michael Broderick of Chilmark, Mass.

Also nominated as eligible for Olympic competition was sixth-ranked American Sam Schultz of Missoula, Mont., a discretionary pick of USA Cycling.

As was the case in 2004, the United States has qualified to send two participants to Beijing in men’s cross country mountain biking.

According to Andy Lee of USA Cycling, an eligible U.S. candidate will earn an Olympic berth in one of three ways: by finishing among the top three overall at the UCI World Championships at Val di Sol, Italy, in mid-June; by earning a top-three finish at any 2008 UCI World Cup event prior to June 23; or by being the top American who has the best three cumulative World Cup finishes prior to June 23.

If no Americans meet those qualifications, then athletes will be selected to the team via coaches’ selection, Lee said.

Overall, 50 men will represent 32 nations in the men’s cross country mountain bike competition at Beijing.

France, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Germany each will send three riders to the Olympics; the United States, Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Austria, Denmark, Italy and Great Britain will send two riders each; and the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, Russia, Colombia, Ukraine, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Ireland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Costa Rica, China, Hong Kong, Hungary and Turkey each will have one Olympic rider.

Craig, a graduate of Dexter Regional High School, came up just short in his first bid to make the U.S. Olympic Team in 2004 but has been the top-ranked American on the UCI World Cup circuit each of the last two years.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045