Sinead and John Kerr, Scotland's ice-dance couple, face a crucial few days of competition at the European championships, which begin this afternoon in Zagreb.
The siblings, who collected their fifth consecutive British title earlier this month, know they must step up a gear to attain similar accolades on the bigger stage, but enter the Europeans having reached No.6 in the rankings and with an outside chance of pursuing a medal.
"We've prepared well and it is very important that we continue to make progress, in terms of results and raising our scores," said John, after the couple's fears that they might have to withdraw - Sinead suffered abdominal pains at the weekend - were dispelled.
"Everything we do is geared towards the Winter Olympics in 2010, but we realise we have to be in contention for medals and, if we skate to our potential, I think we can improve on our present ranking."
The Kerrs face stiff competition, with reigning champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France again the favourites ahead of the Russians, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabailin.
The fifth-rated pair, Federica Faiella and Massimo Scalo of Italy, have posted a season's best score of 181.10, whereas Sinead and John's highest mark to date is 172.37. If they finish higher than sixth, it will be a creditable outcome.
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