Canoe slalom athlete Victoria Murray is hoping a sneak peak at her competition will allow her to leave her mark at the Youth Olympic Games.
Murray is all set for a month to remember after earning selection for the 33-strong Team GB squad in Nanjing for the second summer Youth Olympic Games.
The competition gets underway on August 16 but 15-year-old Murray got a sneak peak of what she can expect to come up against last week at training camps in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Murray is no stranger to high-quality competition as a four-time J16 Scottish kayak champion and having also competed at the 2012 British Open on the London Olympic course.
But having never represented Great Britain before the teenager is grateful for any helping hand she can get.
“I was ecstatic when I found out I had been chosen because it showed that all my hard work had paid off,” Murray said.
“It was good because I had trained really hard all over the winter for the Youth Olympics and it was good to see that it paid off and that I am doing quite well and heading in the right direction.
“Last week I was away on a training camp in Germany and the Czech Republic but we also did some racing and that was good because I got to see what the standard was like heading to Nanjing.
“The standard is really high so we will have to keep training hard to keep up with other nations but I am still excited to get going at the Youth Olympics.
“I’ve represented Scotland before but I have never represented Great Britain and this is a good milestone for me and it shows that I can probably do quite well in the future.”
At 15 Murray is one of the youngest athletes chosen to represent Great Britain in Nanjing but that isn't stopping her from aiming big.
“It is pretty new so it will be good to do it and see how everyone copes with it all,” Murray added. “My target is just to do my best because I can’t ask for anything else.
“I can't change how other people are going to do so I just have to focus on what I am going to do and we will see what happens.
“It will be good to get into the final and then from then on we will see happens.”
© Sportsbeat 2014