Latest news with #WTCS
South Wales Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- South Wales Guardian
Taylor Knibb aiming to find freedom in success at T100 San Francisco
The American will race her first T100 of the season on home soil after winning all four of her races to take the inaugural world title in 2024. After becoming a double-sport Olympian at Paris 2024, racing in the triathlon and the cycling time trial, Knibb has shown her prowess but now faces a target on her back ahead of a new season. '[Being a target is] a privilege, so I'll take it. But I don't think it helps me in any way, unless I harness it effectively,' the 27-year-old explained. 'Success can either trap you or free you. It's easier for it to trap you. That's the question I had to ask myself and my team is how do we give this freedom. 'It gave me the freedom to be able to say, 'No, it's not smart for me to go to Singapore and still get to race the series.' That's one of the biggest freedoms it's given me so far.' 🔥 SAN FRANCISCO T100 WOMEN'S START LIST 🔥 Eleven contracted athletes step up to the San Francisco start line on 31 May for the second stop in the Race To Qatar 🇶🇦 Knibb achieved a silver medal in the mixed relay triathlon at Paris 2024, but she was left disappointed with her individual events. 'My biggest goal was actually the individual race, which was a complete disaster,' she assessed. 'I've had to process it a lot and work through it. It was a massive disappointment. 'With my individual races, people like to show you the silver lining - no pun intended. They're like, 'But you still got a medal.' And it's like, well, I didn't have the two races that I wanted to in the individual races. 'You just keep learning and keep growing. I hope to be in LA so we'll see.' For the three-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion, the T100 events provide a perfect event to continue to hone her craft. Knibb believes the series raises the level of the sport across the board, making it important for leading athletes like her to remain part of it. 'I'm very grateful for the T100 because they are giving the pros what they want, which is more fair racing. And second of all, it's forcing Ironman to be bigger and better,' she explained. 'It's like a rising tide lifts all ships. That's what the T100 series is doing for the sport across WTCS (World Triathlon Championship Series) racing and Ironman racing. That's why it's important for me to race it and be a part of it. 'The T100 goal is to bring triathlon to mainstream media and be a bigger sport. If there are more fans, more people watch WTCS and Ironman racing. If the T100 wins, the whole sport wins.' Watch the world's top 20 female and top 20 male triathletes race live in the San Francisco T100 over the legendary Escape From Alcatraz course on Saturday 31 May. The broadcast starts at 0545 local time, 1345 in the UK, with the races starting 15 minutes later. You can tune in live for free globally on PTO+ or watch on partners channels such as TNT Sports 2 in the UK, Max or Discovery+ in Europe, or beIN in North America. For more details visit
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wisconsin Technical College System lays out budget request during legislative briefing
(Photo Courtesy of MATC) Leaders of the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) laid out the system's requests for the 2025-27 state budget to support college operations and students' education during a Thursday legislative briefing. Education funding will likely be a major point of debate in the upcoming budget process, with public K-12 schools, the UW System and the technical colleges all requesting increases. The technical college system is made up of 16 colleges across the state serving about 287,000 students each year who pursue associate degrees, technical diplomas or short-term certificates. The technical college system's budget for 2024-25 totaled about $1.3 billion, with $592.9 million — or 44% — coming from state aid. About 17% of the remainder comes from tuition and fees and 39% comes from property taxes. 'We are very lean overall in terms of our overall funding picture… we have to be because funding is always limited resources,' said system President Layla Merrifield, who started in the position in September 2024. The system's increase would add up to just under $60 million in general purpose revenue, according to a Department of Administration summary. According to the system, about 70% of the funding would be distributed based on a formula and 30% would be distributed based on outcomes. WTCS policy advisor Megan Stritchko said the request is about 4% of the current budget and is meant to help expand capacity for the technical colleges to meet employer demand across a wide variety of industries. The funding would then be able to be used by each college to meet its 'unique needs,' Stritchko said. 'The colleges are hearing from really all the employers in their district just looking for skilled labor, and so this is to help with capacity to meet that demand,' Stritchko said. 'It's also to help with expanding the pipeline of talent so trying to bring more folks into the technical college system — get them trained up, get them a credential and get them out into the workforce, and then supporting those students while they're within the colleges and helping ensure that they're successful.' Stritchko noted that technical colleges have been facing rising costs, including because of rapidly advancing technology. The system is requesting $700,000 in general purpose funds for positions in the Technical College System office and for information technology and security to maintain the system's operations and enable continuous improvement in outcomes. Merrifield said the office helps coordinate the work of the system. 'We are currently funded at the same level we were funded at 20 years ago,' Merrifield said. 'Everything that we do is database decision making. We really try to take in all of this great data from our colleges and then turn it into something useful, and give it back to them so that they know how they can improve relative to their fellow colleges. All of that requires resources.' Part of the request includes $3 million across the biennium to provide grants to colleges for teaching and learning materials that are in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use. The system has said the investment would help to reduce the cost of education as students across the system can access those resources, making it more affordable and accessible. 'These textbooks need to be maintained and they need to be updated regularly, just like when you had books, when you're in school, there are version one, version two, version three and they all need to be updated,' WTCS policy advisor Brandon Trujillo said, adding that the system has identified nursing and automotive as some programs where students would benefit from available materials. The system is also seeking $10 million across the biennium to prepare students and educators for the adoption of artificial intelligence in the classroom and the workforce. The system is also requesting $10.8 million in each year of the biennium to go towards Wisconsin Grants, administered by the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board. The program provides grants to undergraduate Wisconsin residents enrolled at least half-time in degree or certificate programs. According to the system, for the first time in over 10 years there has been a waitlist for the grants, with about 3,200 students by the end of fiscal year 2023-24. It is projected that the waitlist will grow significantly in FY 2024-25 due to changes in the federal formula for determining a student's financial need. 'We're seeing student need increase across our system and it's going to continue to increase,' Trujillo said. While Wisconsin's state agencies have submitted their budget requests, Gov. Tony Evers will deliver his budget address and release his complete budget proposal next month. The budget will be in the hands of state lawmakers. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
