Dundee figure skater Natasha McKay hoping to shine in international spotlight at Winter Olympic Games

Natasha McKay quickly acclimatised to the unique pressure of Olympic competition as she prepares to make her Games debut.

McKay's practice sessions have been attended by scores of international media, as cameras followed the every move of Russia's Kamila Valieva, 15, who arrived here favourite for the women's figure skating gold.

Valieva's participation now rests in the hands of the Court of Arbitration in Sport, who will rule on Monday whether she can compete, after testing positive for a banned substance last year.

"I’m focused on what I’m doing but there's definitely a lot of attention," said the Dundee star.

In contrast to Valieva, the 27-year old Scot is flying under the radar as she becomes the first woman to compete for Team GB since Jenna McCorkell eight years ago in Sochi.

The five-time national champion finished 16 places behind Valieva at the recent European Championships but is determined to seize her chance.

She made her Team GB 11 years ago as junior at the Olympic Winter Youth Festival in the Czech Republic but admits the wait to make the transition to the senior team has taken its toll. She missed out on PyeongChang four years ago and almost quit the sport when the pandemic forced her off the ice.

"Before PyeongChang I'd had a bit of a breakthrough season, but to get to the 2018 Games would have been a big ask for me," said McKay.

"My focus was purely on 2022 and I really wanted to get to these Games. We then obviously had the setback with the pandemic.

"I was off the ice for five months, which for me was a really long time. I'm usually off the ice only for two weeks of the year, so to be off for five months was crazy and just really hard to take, especially because it was six months before the Olympic