As soon as the calendar flicked from December to January a couple of weeks ago, Seonaid McIntosh felt something change. 

It is now, after all, Olympic year. 

McIntosh is as aware as anyone of the importance of the coming months to her chances at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris where the rifle shooter will be one of Britain’s brightest medal prospects. 

And knowing that the Games are fast-approaching has, admits McIntosh, induced more than a hint of apprehension. 

“Definitely the nerves started increasing when the year turned,” she says.  

“When you wake up on the 1st of January, you're like, oh, it's Olympic year. You can feel it almost immediately. 

“It shows it really means something to get nervous this far in advance. 

That McIntosh can already feel the tension is, in all likelihood, down to the awareness that she has the ability to become Scotland’s first-ever female shooter to win Olympic silverware. 

It’s quite a prospect but McIntosh has already shown she’s more than capable of competing, and beating, the very best in the world. 

Back in 2018, McIntosh became world 50m prone champion before the following year, becoming world number one in the 3 positions (3P) rifle event. And last year, the Edinburgh woman once again topped the world rankings, this time in the 10m air rifle event, as well as setting a new world record in the 3P. 

For all those high points, however, there’s been more than a few low ones too; the most significant of which coming on McIntosh’s Olympic debut, at Tokyo 2020. 

Having been tipped to win an Olympic medal in Tokyo, McIntosh’s performances fell considerably short of her best, with the Scot failing to make the final in either of her specialist events.          

And while that was, she admitted at the time, a heartbreaking blow, it was a considerable learning curve and has given the 27-year-old something of a different perspective as Paris 2024 approaches. 

This time around, she continues to dream about standing on the Olympic podium but there is, she says, far less pressure upon her shoulders. 

“Tokyo went so badly and I struggled so much with it, but I'm still here, I'm still fine, my family are all still fine and life went on afterwards. That's helped a lot knowing that if Paris goes well or doesn't go well then either way, we'll all still be fine. So I think that has taken the pressure off,” McIntosh, who battles both arthritis and Chron's disease, told Sportsboom.

“In Paris, I'd really like to make both finals - I guess to prove to myself that I am perfectly capable of that. But I’d just like to perform well. If there's eight other women who happen to shoot absolutely amazing and I end up ninth but I've performed well, I'll still be happy.  

"If I can perform well under pressure, then I will be happy. But obviously everybody wants to win.” 

McIntosh may be one of the best shooters Britain has produced but there’s still something of a debate as to whether she’s even the best shooter her family has ever produced. 

Her mum, Shirley, was Scotland’s most-decorated female athlete at the Commonwealth Games with four medals until McIntosh’s elder sister, Jen, took that accolade, recently ending her career with five Commonwealth medals. 

And with her dad also an international shooter, there’s no shortage of experience for the youngest McIntosh to tap into if she feels on unsteady ground in the coming months. 

With her father, Donald, also her coach, the pressure of the Olympic build-up could consume the family but rather, McIntosh insists both the advice, and the understanding from her family members, is invaluable at such a high-stress time in her career. 

“They know what can happen from their own points of view, so they're not going to be disappointed in me for not performing and equally well, they'll be proud if I do manage to do something,” says McIntosh, whose first major event of the season is the World Cup in Cairo next week. 

“My dad's my coach and me and him get on pretty well. There's been, I think, only one proper argument in the 10 years that we've been working together.  

“They do all give advice. 

“They used to tell me when I was younger that it doesn't hurt to listen to everybody, but you don't have to do everything that you hear. 

"Especially in Olympic year, people will always want to try and help, and they always said, it doesn't hurt to listen to everybody then you can pick and choose what works for you. 

"What works for Jen doesn't always work for me and vice versa, if it doesn't work for Jen, it might work for me. So I think that's been pretty good advice.”