Kira Ellis’ chase for glory comes with a heavy price.

Ellis revealed that she will no longer pursue her athletic scholarship at Queen’s University following her triumphant performance in the Europe Triathlon Junior Women Cup over the weekend in Riga, Latvia.

The prestigious university in Charlotte, North Carolina is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I school that is known as a triathlon powerhouse, but the 19-year-old Filipina star made the tough decision of walking away as she aims to barge into the top 100 in the International Triathlon Union ranking.

She said it’s going to be challenging to attend school while traveling around the world to compete in major races so they decided to return to the Philippines to train while attending online school.

“I think, for us, it was a good decision because the travelling is gonna take a toll on me, on my recovery,” said Ellis in a radio interview together with her mother Doray Ellis.

“We’re looking at different universities, especially the online ones, just to make it easier for me to train and travel more, especially if I want to get more points that will get me to top 100 rank.”

“It’s a long journey but we’re doing our best to plan now. We’re doing our best for that.”

Making it to the top 100 is never easy.

In fact, during the height of her international career, six-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Kim Mangrobang barely made it to the top 100 despite actively joining competitions to gain ranking points with the guidance of Portugese mentor Sergio Santos.

But Ellis is determined to work hard to barge into the prestigious list headed by elite triathletes from European countries like Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy and Belgium.

Her mother, who also acts as her coach, stressed that attending online classes will be a logical choice for a competitive athlete in a demanding sport like triathlon like her daughter.

“Of course, NCAA scholarship is really good. But after assessing for a year, it looks like it doesn’t fit Kira’s goal,” the elder Ellis said.

“We’re now considering — but not yet final — to attend an online university. I have one in mind already and that will be better.”