DEAL sprinter Melody Georgeson has won a scholarship to the Athletics Youth Academy at Canterbury.

This is the first athletics academy in the country, and sports chiefs hope that it will be replicated across Britain.

It is the only establishment of its type in this country which offers education and athletics coaching.

Georgeson, 17, does her A-level studies at Barton Court Grammar School and then transfers to the academy for physical training sessions and theoretical aspects of performance such as psychology, injury prevention and diet.