The eyes of the world will be on a Kent teenager today as she leads out Britain's athletes at the start of the Winter Paralympics.

Visually-impaired skier Millie Knight, from Canterbury, will carry the British flag at the opening ceremony in Sochi.

The 15-year-old is the youngest member of the British team and will compete in the alpine skiiing event with her guide Rachel Ferrier.

Millie – a pupil at King's School – flew out to Russia with a stop in Moscow before arriving in the Black Sea resort in the south of the country.

She takes part in the slalom next Friday and the giant slalom two days later.

Millie said: "It is all starting to become real. I've tried not to think about it too much because I might get too stressed and overthink stuff.

"The last few days of watching the Olympics on television has made it kick in."

Although she is eagerly anticipating the opening ceremony tonight, she faces a wait of almost a week before her first action of the Games.

She said: "I would like to be able to get right into it. I’d like to just get it over and done with so the stress it out the way but it should be good and I know I shouldn't be stressed.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go and I was so pleased when my coach told me I was going – it was the one thing I wanted to go to."