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So what’s the scoop with USA Triathlon’s “funding cuts?”

Turns out the funding changes aren't as "black and white" as was originally reported

Photo by: Kevin Mackinnon

Earlier this week Slowtwitch posted an article outlining funding “cuts” to USA Triathlon elite national team athletes. We followed up with one national team member after the story was published, who pointed out that the situation wasn’t as “black and white” as had been reported. We reached out to USA Triathlon’s High Performance General Manager, Scott Schnitzspahn, who provided some clarity on the national team funding for the rest of the year.

The Slowtwitch story suggested that there would be no funding for athletes to World Cup races. While its true that the emphasis for the elite team athletes would focus on the higher level World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) races, athletes would still have the ability to compete, and be supported, at World Cup races, according to Schnitzspahn.

“It wasn’t going to be ‘carte blanche’ that we weren’t going to fund World Cup events,” he said in an interview. “If there are high performance reasons to compete at a World Cup, we can talk about that.”

Schnitzspahn also pointed out that athletes would be able to use part of what’s referred to as the “camps budget” – a pool of money that can be used by athletes for equipment, training camps, etc. that they can be reimbursed for – to travel to a World Cup event if need be.

Athletes will also be able to tap into USA Triathlon’s incentive plan – at World Cup races that would be up to $1,000 for a podium finish.

The issue for many athletes, though, is that most have likely spent that “camps budget” money already, and many were hoping to be supported to a number of World Cup races where they could earn both money and valuable points. The timing of the announcement, with a number of races still on the calendar, has also been cited as a concern.

“This is a shift in priority and where the funding was going to come from,” Schnitzspahn continued, acknowledging that it’s “not uncommon to have some cutbacks in funding post Games.”

WTCS Entries

Schnitzspahn speculated that some of the worry for the elite team athletes around the funding changes might have come from a concern that athletes might not have been able to get into WTCS races. With so many high-level elite athletes, especially for the women, it’s been a challenge for some athletes to get a spot at WTCS events. (Earlier this year Katie Zaferes and Gwen Jorgensen found themselves unable to compete at WTCS events because there were so many highly-ranked American women and federations are only allowed to have up to five athletes in a race – see below.)

USA Triathlon Olympic team drama continues with WTCS Cagliari substitution

That isn’t likely to be as much of a factor for the final WTCS events (Weihai on Sept. 27 and the Championship Finals in Torremolinos-Andalucia on Oct. 19 and 20) Shnitzspahn said, citing a conflicting T100 race (Lake Las Vegas), and the fact that a number of athletes who competed at the Olympics are undecided on what they’re looking to do for the rest of the year. Based on that, he’s anticipating that any of the elite national team members who would like to compete at the final WTCS races will be able to.

LA Funding

Paris 2024 Olympic Games by Wagner Araujo (@wags.photo)

The American team didn’t have a great day in the individual races in Paris, with Taylor Spivey providing the lone top-10 result, but the team had a stellar performance in the mixed relay to take the silver medal. There will no-doubt be lots of pressure on USA Triathlon to perform at the upcoming Games in Los Angeles in 2028. Schnitzspahn is encouraged by both the veteran members of the national team who are likely to continue through LA, but also the up and coming athletes in the system.

“We’re really excited about some of the athletes we’ve got coming through the university recruitment program,” he said, noting that 2016 Olympic gold medalist Jorgensen was introduced to the sport through that program.

Unlike other international bodies, USA Triathlon, like all US sports federations, doesn’t receive any government funding. While USA Triathlon does get money from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the organization is still very dependent on donations.

“Hopefully, with a home Games, we’ll get people rallying around all the sports,” Shnitzspahn said. “We’re looking to our donors to support us and help us get done what we need to in order to do well in LA.”