Doctorate on ice

One of the UK's top figure skaters graduated from the University of Essex last week with what is thought to be Britain's only doctorate in figure skating.

Diana Entwistle, who was the British Masters Ice Dance Champion in 2007, was awarded a PhD in sports science.

Her thesis assessed the impact of aerobic fitness on performance on the ice, and looked at options to measure endurance and its effect on jump performance during a figure-skating routine.