IT'S a whole new ball game for student Chelsea Walker as she swaps her running spikes for rugby studs and represents her country.

The Shiptonthorpe 18-year-old, the UK’s number one Under-20s 400 metre hurdles champion with ambitions to take part in the Rio games next year, has been recognised nationally for a second sport - rugby.

Not willing to settle with her success on the track, Walker began playing rugby when she joined Bishop Burton College a year ago.

Originally called up to represent England Under-18s at the European Championships in Belgium, she has now been selected to take part in the development squad programme - a route into the England women’s senior squad - over the coming months.

The selection followed a trial session at Loughborough University, where Walker impressed the scouts. Her first training camp with the team kicked off earlier this week at Surrey Sports Park, followed by a tournament in October.

Walker had never picked up a ball before starting at Bishop Burton, near Beverley, and only agreed to join in because she thought it would be non contact.

“I thought it was only the forwards that would get hit and, as a winger, I’d get away without heavy contact," she said. "It was a bit of a surprise but I don’t mind the contact anymore and I try to give as good as I get.”

Walker starred on the wing as the college women’s team lifted the AoC Sport Rugby Finals in London, winning four games out of four and scoring an impressive 181 points while conceding only 19.

She added: “I scored nine tries in that tournament, which I’m pleased about, but as a winger, that’s what I’m in the team to do. It was a great experience and I learned a lot from the coaching staff last year, including one-to-one support sessions on the times I needed to catch up.”

Walker's first love, though, will always be hurdling.

She has set her sights on the World Junior Championships in Kazan, next July, and said: "My goals at the moment are to take part in the Rio Olympic trials sometime around May next year but, if I don’t qualify, my sights will be firmly set on qualifying for the following Olympics four years later.”