An 18-year-old triathlete who died from sepsis the day she was accepted into university could have survived if she had been given antibiotics earlier, a coroner has ruled.

International Great Britain triathlete Eleanor Penrose was taken to an A&E department twice in the space of 24 hours in August 2015.

Suffering from diarrhoea and a headache, she was initially discharged by a junior doctor who diagnosed a stomach bug.

Hours later - after finding out she had won a place at York University to study Maths - Miss Penrose was rushed back to the hospital in an ambulance.

Her condition deteriorated and she died later that day on August 13 of sepsis caused by a meningicoccal infection.

On Monday, an inquest heard how Miss Penrose was not given vital antibiotics until two hours after she arrived at the A&E for the second time.

A coroner has now ruled Miss Penrose "may have" survived if she had received the antibiotics on arrival.

Senior coroner Professor Paul Marks said he could not be sure that it was "probable" that Miss Penrose would have survived.

But an independent expert, while not criticising the first decision to discharge Miss Penrose, said she should have been given antibiotics as soon as she arrived at A&E the second time round.

Miss Penrose had indeed displayed a number of warning signs that sepsis was present, the inquest heard.

"She may have survived but I can't say that she probably would have survived," expert Dr Mike Beadsworth said.

He added: "I think I have to say 50/50. I just don't know if she would have survived or not."

Miss Penrose, from Cottingham, East Yorkhire, was a promising international and the inquest heard how she competed in a triathlon in Switzerland a month before she was taken ill, swimming in Lake Geneva.

She had a bout of diarrhoea on a holiday in Florida and then began to feel unwell again on August 9. But the coroner noted that she still managed a lengthy bike ride

Coroner Prof Marks ruled that it was "not inappropriate" for Miss Penrose to be discharged at 3.50am on August 13.

But he said that she should have been given antibiotics as soon as she arrived at the hospital the second time.

The coroner said that "crucially" he was able to say that this "may have resulted in her surviving" but said: "I am unable to a make a finding of fact that she would have survived."