A Cornish heptathlete has moved one step closer to achieving her dream of gaining a place at a top US university, thanks to her record breaking performances.

Georgia Doyle-Lay from Zelah has smashed the junior women’s Cornish record for the heptathlon after gaining an impressive 4610 points at the Southwest Schools Combined event.

The heptathlon requires athletes to complete across seven events; 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot-put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin, and 800 metres. The talented Truro and Penwith College student is not resting on her laurels and, despite already being ranked number two in the country at under 19-level, is looking to gain even more points at the English Schools Combined Events in September.

Georgia said: “Athletes always want to do better, so I am pleased to get that sort of points score especially as the event was the first heptathlon of the season, but then I also can’t wait for the next one and I want to improve.

“I am hoping to go to university in America and this is all helping towards my scholarship, I just want to get my points and distances as the better I do, the better colleges I can go for.”

Georgia’s love of America was fuelled by family holidays to the country and the thought of spending time studying out there is a massive incentive.

She said: “The facilities over there are incredible and while I am really close with my family it would be a great experience to study and train out there for four or five years.”

In the meantime, Georgia is in her first year of the diploma in sport performance and excellence at the college, and as part of the Elite Academy programme she is receiving training from sport tutor Jamie Willcocks.

She said: “I do a lot of gym training with Jamie focussing on increasing my strength which I transfer on to the track.”

And in terms of finding additional inspiration, Olympic gold medal-winning heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill’s successful return to events after childbirth has been an obvious candidate.

Georgia added: “I love all the events when it comes to heptathlon and I’m really happy with my points, but I just want to keep getting better.”