If names like Renaud Dagenais and Matthew Margetts don't sound familiar to Whitehorse residents right now, just give it four years.

While the world of sports can be incredibly unpredictable, Dagenais and Margetts could certainly be in the running for spots on the Canadian freestyle skiing team in Vancouver in 2010, if this past week's competition was any indication.

The young athletes, from the Quebec provincial team and the Apex ski club in Penticton, B.C. respectively, were two of the standouts in a group of 110 skiers who thrilled spectators at Mount Sima during the 2006 Northwestel Canadian Freestyle Ski Championships.

Dagenais was king of the moguls at Sima, winning gold in the junior men's dual mogul event and silver in the singles. He was part of a Quebec team which ran rampant through the mogul course, picking up 25 of a possible 36 medals in the dual and single events. Quebec swept the youth and juvenile men's categories in both mogul competitions.

Prior to the start of the championships, Vince Gauthier, the chief of competition and also a representative with the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA), predicted Quebec would be the team to beat in moguls.

'I had some inkling they would do well,' he smiled. 'I hadn't really seen them too much this year, though. They were just phenomenal, very dominant. How much their program has improved over the past two years is just amazing.'

Etienne Lecours, one of the coaches of the Quebec athletes, said the province has invested a lot more into summer training techniques recently, as well as winter. A lot of the clubs have new water ramps to practice jumps on in the summer months. That way, he said, it's easier to just focus on the technical aspects of their skiing once they hit the snow.

'Then it's just really easy to put it all together leading up to the competitions.'

Fellow Quebec coach Josee Thibault said credit should also go to the great role models young Quebec athletes have had in freestyle skiing. Former world champion and Olympic medalist Jean-Luc Brassard made the sport very popular in his home province, she pointed out. And just like young hockey players look up to guys like Jarome Iginla and Martin Brodeur, a lot of the skiers want to be like Brassard when they grow up.

Both Thibault and Lecours agreed the course at Sima was somewhat of an advantage for their athletes. With the lack of natural snow in the Yukon this year, the staff at Sima was forced to use a lot of man-made snow. While some athletes seemed to struggle with the lack of powder, Lecours said Quebec is used to it.

'It was a pretty good course, but it was not really hard for us,' said Lecours.

'It was easy for our skiers,' added Thibault. 'We're used to skiing on courses that are harder than this, steeper and icy.'

Quebec also grabbed gold and silver medals in the junior women's portion of the aerials event, and a silver in the youth men's aerials, but was held off the podium in the half-pipe.

The half-pipe medals were split amongst B.C., Ontario and Alberta. Gillian McIver of the Ontario provincial team, Sarah Hogg of B.C. and Megan Gunning from Alberta won gold in their respective women's divisions.

Jasper's Jordan Whyte, Apex's Stuart Chapman and Dane Ulsifer of Alberta's Northern Extreme Freestyle Club took home the gold in men's action.

While there were also many entertaining performances in the aerials, the day really belonged to Apex's Margetts, who pulled off a switch 900 while entering and landing the jump backwards, then upped the ante in the second round and came oh-so-close to landing a switch 1080 in the same fashion. None of the other athletes in the junior men's division were able to pull off anything close to that, awarding Margetts the gold.

Michael Mochon of Northern Extreme won gold in the juvenile men's category while Travis Gerrits of Ottawa was tops in the youth men's division.

Margetts was also a crowd favourite in the moguls event, bringing his own unique style of twists and spins into play. While he didn't finish with a medal in moguls, it was apparent to many that the youngster has what it takes.

'There's usually one or two (athletes) that really stand out,' said John Pomeroy, a sport development manager for CFSA, who also had the duty of announcer for this championships. 'Basically, you just have to have some fun. It's an exciting sport and you're being judged on showing off what you've got. Matthew is really good at doing that.

'Even kids in the youth category (13-and-under), like Mikael Kingsbury, they start to stand out from the rest. You can tell by the level of talent and comfort they have in their own skiing who is going to go really far.'

Pomeroy said the overall level of competition at the junior nationals just keeps rising every year. He was particularly amazed with the athletes in the youth category, which he said aren't too far behind their juvenile and junior counterparts.

'It's like they're just going for a walk in the park,' he laughed.

Overall, Pomeroy felt the event went extremely well. He said there were no big complaints from the athletes or coaches about the courses and there was certainly enough snow to host a competition. It's a learning curve for small ski hills like Sima, who are hosting such a large event for the first time, he said. But now organizers and officials will know what they need to fix before the Canada Games in 2007.

'It was a really good idea to have this level of competition here, because there were actually more athletes here this week than there will be for Canada Games. It showed everyone what was required in terms of where the snow is going to go and what infrastructure needs to be in place.'

One of the things which didn't receive a passing grade from the Outsiders was the ski lodge at Sima, which is already scheduled for an upgrade this summer. The plans for the new lodge are currently on display for the public at the ski hill.

'We got a lot of positive feedback on the mountain itself and the freestyle courses,' said Gauthier, who will be making another trip to Whitehorse in mid-January, to do an inspection prior to the Games.

'We need to do some minor changes, but nothing that would really require construction in the summer (outside of the lodge). 'Most of the modifications can just be done with snow.

'We're very happy. The sites tested very well.'