Great Britain's leading skating couple, John and Sinead Kerr, begin their season at the Cup of China in Harbin today with a performance that will focus on their Scottish roots.

The Livingston-born duo - who are under the tutelage of Evgeny Platov, the former Olympic ice dance champion - have been working hard at their base in the United States and, from their current ranking in the world's top 10, believe they can start winning medals in competitive action this year.

"Our preparations have gone far more smoothly than last year, when we were going through the process of changing coach, and when much of our training alternated between Russia and the US, so things couldn't have gone much better than in the last few months," said John Kerr.

"We will be performing a Scottish routine throughout all the competitions and I will be doing it in a specially-designed kilt.

"It will definitely be the first time the kilt has been worn in an international skating event and it will be interesting to see what reaction there is from the crowd and the judges."

"This will be our first visit to China, but we are hopeful we can get our first Grand Prix medal there, as that is one of the goals we have set ourselves for this season.

"As well as achieving a medal in a GP event, we feel we have a good chance of winning a medal at the European Championships this year in Zagreb in January and we are confident that we can get somewhere near the top five at the Worlds in Gothenburg in March.

The Kerrs have gained in confidence recently after appearing with two of the sport's legends, the Protopopovs, Ludmila and Oleg, who were the Olympic champions in both 1964 and 1968.

"We had only seen them in black and white before, so it was a real thrill to skate alongside them," added John.