A flying start to the season is no guarantee of medals come the business end of the summer, but Jessica Ennis will not be thinking about that this morning. In fact, Ennis will not be thinking about athletics at all. After laying out more evidence yesterday that she is rising fast towards the summit of her sport, it is the challenge of the exam room that awaits her today.

A psychology student at Sheffield University, Ennis took time off from her studies to compete in three events at the Loughborough International. In a javelin competition highlighted by a British record for Goldie Sayers, Ennis recorded the best throw of her life and performed solidly in the 100 metres hurdles and long jump.

While Sayers was thrilled with her effort, which added 18cm to Kelly Morgan’s British record, it should be remembered that javelin specifications changed during the 1990s, requiring records to start again. Had this not been the case, Fatima Whitbread, the former world record-holder, and Tessa Sanderson, the 1984 Olympic champion, would still be clearly ahead.

That said, Sayers was so chuffed at throwing 65.05 metres that she suggested she might win a medal at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, in August. “If I throw like that I should come home with a medal,” she said. However, she will need to show the consistency that has become Ennis’s trademark before we can count on her as a prospect.

While the Loughborough fixture traditionally heralds the start of the domestic season for many, Ennis had already made her mark overseas, winning the heptathlon at the World Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano Del Garda, Italy, two weeks earlier. She improved her best score to 6,388 points, equalling the British women’s high jump record of 1.95 metres in the process.

Yesterday was a chance for Ennis to work on selected disciplines, with a view to challenging for medals at the European Cup in Sczeczin, Poland, in July, and Osaka. Furthermore, she is seeking to break into the top three Britons of all time, ground held by Denise Lewis (6,381), Judy Simpson (6,623) and Kelly Sotherton (6,547).

Ennis won the hurdles in 13.19sec, finished second to Jul-ie Hollman in the long jump and recorded 37.05 metres in the javelin. And the exams? “I revised most of yesterday,” she said. “My first exam is not until the afternoon, so I am going to cram in the morning.”

Aged 21, Ennis is in the fore-front of young Britons showing promise for world championships and Olympics up to and beyond London 2012. At the raw end of those who might have a chance of making the Great Britain team for their home Olympics is Asha Philip, 16 now but only 15 when she finished fourth in the World Under20 Championships last summer.

Philip, like Ennis, has divided loyalties at present but, unlike Ennis, it is not just exams that are competing for her time with athletics. Philip is looking for world titles in two sports, in the World Youth Championships of athletics, in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in July, and in the senior World Championships for double mini trampolining, in Quebec in November.

“It is a hectic year,” Philip said after finishing fourth in a senior 100 metres race. And what is double mini trampolining, in which she is the world under17 champion? “There is ordinary trampolining and there is double mini, where you run up to it and vault,” Philip said. Joice Maduaka, who is more than twice Philip’s age at 33, won the 100 metres.