As Canada gears up to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the Yukon continues to build on its reputation as an athletic host, in hopes of cashing in on some big time Olympic training opportunities.

On the heels of the 2007 Canada Winter Games, and with two major international events planned for the summer of 2008, at least one Olympic-calibre athlete is giving the territory a ringing endorsement.

German speed skater Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann is running a dry-land training camp for six of her young athletes this week in Whitehorse. An eight-time Olympic medalist and 19-time world record holder, Niemann-Stirnemann first travelled to the territory last February, when she competed in the annual Fulda Extreme Challenge.

She loved it so much, she vowed to return.

'The landscape, the incredible wide spaces and the friendliness of the people,' Niemann-Stirnemann said through translator Holger Bergold, in an interview Wednesday.

February marked the first time in all of her travels as an athlete that Niemann-Stirnemann actually had time to tour the area where she was competed. Before, she was so focused on victory she wasn't able to just relax and enjoy herself.

With a top-notch facility like the Canada Games Centre, as well as plenty of places to cycle and jog, Niemann-Stirnemann saw the potential for a training camp in Whitehorse. Working with Bergold, who is the event director for the Fulda Challenge and also represents Tourism Yukon in Europe, they secured the funding and support needed for the trip.

While the athletes paid some money on their own, the Government of Yukon also chipped in some, for what they believe is a prime opportunity to expose the territory.

'We're trying to sell Yukon as a prime destination for young athletes,' explained Bergold. 'This was kind of a test.'

Seven journalists followed Niemann-Stirnemann and her team to Whitehorse, both print and television, and reports are being broadcast and printed back in Europe.

'The press follows her around,' said Bergold. 'She is, in Germany, like Canada's Wayne Gretzky.

'Now she's a testimonial.'

Niemann-Stirnemann will also be giving presentations back home, in hopes of attracting other sports organizations to the territory and having them send their athletes over.

She's been even more impressed on her second trip to the Yukon, particularly with the hospitality and support the speed skaters have received during their camp this week. While she knew the training conditions would be good, she did not expect them to be as perfect as they are, she said.

At Yukon College, each of the six athletes have their own room, with internet, in the student residence and the parking lot in front of the residence building has been closed to the public so the team can use it for inline skating.

'All that they need is right here,' said Niemann-Stirnemann, adding a college in Germany would never go through as much trouble as Yukon College did to make them feel comfortable.

After looping around the parking lot on inline skates for the morning portion of their training, the athletes also cycle and jog in various areas around Whitehorse, and swim and weight train at the Canada Games Centre.

They were planning a canoeing trip down Miles Canyon Wednesday night as an extracurricular activity and had already visited Uncommon Journeys earlier this week, where they were able to experience some dry-land dog mushing.

'This is a totally different world for the young athletes,' said Bergold. 'When they're at home, they have training blocks and then go home. Here, this is the first time they've experienced a training camp. They have to bring themselves to a higher level.

'It shows them as well what it means to have nine-hour time difference on the body.'

The six athletes training in Whitehorse are among the best young speed skaters out of the approximate 200 at the sport school where Niemann-Stirnemann coaches. They are basically Germany's development team.

'They are young athletes trying to get to the very top,' said Bergold. 'They want to go to the Olympics.'

Niemann-Stirnemann used the Yukon training camp as an incentive at the school back home. The athletes were told the ones who trained the hardest and rose to the top, showing the most potential, would be invited to make the trip.

For them, the camp is a reward, as well as a motivational tool.

Through Bergold, Niemann-Stirnemann said she has seen improvement in the group every day since they arrived, so as a coach, she is very satisfied.

'Just the experience here, bicycling around Schwatka Lake, with the landscape, it just blows their minds,' said Bergold. 'Everything is really fantastic.'

Niemann-Stirnemann said the only thing the Yukon is missing, in terms of being a good training ground for elite athletes, is a higher altitude. If Whitehorse was 1,000 metres higher, it would be ideal for a lot of the winter sports athletes, she said. But still, it is already ideal for young athletes who are looking to build toward their Olympic dreams.

That's something Tourism Yukon is banking on.

'This opportunity developed in conjunction with the Yukon Convention Bureau, the Yukon Amateur Speed Skating Association and the City of Whitehorse shows what successful partnerships can accomplish in the promotion of Yukon as a sport tourism destination,' said Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor in an earlier press release.

'Not only does our local sport community benefit from such a distinctive visit, but also Yukon is emerging as a welcome location for training and test events in advance of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.'

The German speed skating team will be in Whitehorse until July 31.