Seven months ago, Sarah Gigante's mum had to transcribe her homework because the teenager had suffered two broken arms in a bike crash.
On Friday, the rising cycling star could be forgiven for her quiet day at the Australian track championships, given the double dose of great news in the morning.
The 18-year-old achieved a perfect ATAR score of 99.95 in her VCE results.
Gigante is also among only 43 students to be offered the prestige Melbourne Chancellor's Scholarship at Melbourne University.
So this was a banner day, even though she was no chance of a medal in the elite omnium at the nationals.
"I was pretty stoked when I saw it this morning - I tried hard all year in study and on the bike, but I didn't expect it," Gigante told AAP.
It caps an outstanding year of excellence for Gigante, on and off the bike.
In January, she won the junior road race, criterium and time trial at the national road championships and two months later, Gigante took out the junior Oceania road race title as well.
Then came the May crash in a club race, which meant mum Kerry had to transcribe her homework for six weeks.
The August junior track world championships and September road worlds appeared out of the question.
But Gigante recovered in time to win silver in the points race on the track and also raced at the world road championships.
"Once I had that bad crash and broke both my arms, I thought it would be all downhill from there," she said.
"It actually turned out to be an amazing year after all.
"I have the best family and friends ever ... I couldn't have done anything without them."
Gigante wants to start university next year - she has to decide on a course by Wednesday and has no idea what she will choose - as well as pursuing her cycling career.
"I really enjoy the challenge of both and I think I can make it work," she said.
Seven years ago, Gigante's brother Scott was awarded the same scholarship and he is now studying a Phd in bioinfomatics at Yale University in the United States.
"It's pretty special I could get the same one," she said.
