A diving prodigy is dreaming of Olympic glory as she prepares to build on last year’s European medal haul.

Southampton's Tilly Brown, 16, participated in the European Junior Diving Championship where she claimed nine medals. 

The championship took place in Croatia, and Tilly received silver and bronze medals in the one- and three-meter springboard age categories. 

While she is celebrating her victory after an intense match, she is also training for another championship.

Next month, Tilly will head to Southend for the British Elite Junior Diving Championship, where she hopes to secure her place in Bucharest European Championships and Junior World Championships that will take place in December.

The Southampton Diving Academy student, one of more than 50 of the most talented young British athletes, said: "We have the British Juniors coming up which is normally where selections for the Europeans and Worlds happen, but in the future, my dream would be the Olympics.

"I feel like everyone says that, but it really is.

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"The absolute dream would be Olympic gold, but I’ve been diving for 10 years and just being selected for the Olympics would be amazing."

Tilly's sports journey is supported by a partnership between the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and SportsAid, a charity that supports young athletes. 

The organisations also provide the next generation of sports stars with financial assistance, recognition and personal development opportunities to help them fulfil their potential.

Tilly said: "I’ve been part of SportsAid for four years now, and it's really helped with transport because I live an hour and a half from where I dive. It's a long journey pretty much every day.

"I’ve kept in contact with some of the girls I’ve met through SportsAid, and it’s nice to see you’re not alone because we’re going through the same struggles in every sport right now."

SportsAid also offers workshops on challenges such as interview techniques for a select group of Britain’s rising athletics stars, with guest speakers including double gold medallist and freestyle swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

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