Karel Tilga (born 5 February 1998) is an Estonian multi-event athlete who competes in the decathlon and indoors heptathlon. He was the NCAA championships both indoors and outdoors in 2021. He competed at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.
Early life Tilga was born in Valga and grew up in Puka until the eight grade, when the family moved to Tartu. He attended school at Tartu Kristjan Jaak Petersoni Gymnasium before enrolling at the University of Georgia, graduating in 2022.
Career Competing for Georgia Bulldogs (men), he won their fifth ever NCAA individual title (second in the heptathlon) by scoring a school record 6,264 to win the heptathlon at the 2021 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in March 2021, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. with the No. 2 all-time collegiate performance. He scored a near 400 point-improvement on his decathlon lifetime best at the Specs Town Invitational in Athens, Georgia in April 2021 besting Garrett Scantling by just 8 points. Tilga's score reached the Olympic qualifying standard of 8350 points. He then won the 2021 Outdoor NCAA Championships in the decathlon in Eugene, Oregon. At the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2021, he received 0 in pole vault and eventually finished 20th overall. He did not finish the 2022 European Championships after also receiving 0 in pole vault.
Tilga finished fourth in the decathlon at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Tilga was selected as the best male athlete of April 2021 of the European Athletics Association (EAA) and the best male athlete of Estonia in 2023.
He competed in Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the decathlon, finishing in eleventh place overall.
In September 2025, he competed in the decathlon at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
In August, he competed at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, placing fifth overall in decathlon. He finished the season placed eighth in the 2026 World Athletics Combined Events Tour rankings.
International competitions Representing 2017European U20 ChampionshipsGrosseto 3rdDecathlon U208002 pts2018European ChampionshipsBerlin–DecathlonDNF2021Olympic GamesTokyo20thDecathlon7018 pts2022World Indoor ChampionshipsBelgrade9thHeptathlon5964 ptsEuropean ChampionshipsMunich–DecathlonDNF2023World ChampionshipsBudapest4thDecathlon8681 pts2024Olympic GamesParis11thDecathlon8377 pts2025World ChampionshipsTokyo16thDecathlon6073 pts2026European ChampionshipsBirmingham5thDecathlon8286 pts
Personal bests Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
Outdoor
Event Performance Location Date Points Decathlon Budapest 25–26 August 2023 8,604 points 100 metres 10.84 (-0.1 m/s) Budapest 25 August 2023 897 points Long jump (0.0 m/s) Athens, Georgia 9 April 2021 982 points Shot put Ratingen 22 June 2024 888 points High jump Athens, Georgia 9 April 2021 896 points 400 metres 48.49 Götzis 27 May 2023 886 points 110 metres hurdles 14.65 (-0.1 m/s) Götzis 28 May 2023 892 points Discus throw Götzis 1 June 2025 901 points Pole vault Budapest 26 August 2023 849 points Javelin throw Tokyo 5 August 2021 941 points 1500 metres 4:20.73 Budapest 26 August 2023 807 points Virtual Best Performance 8,939 points
Indoor
Event Performance Location Date Points Heptathlon Fayetteville 11–12 March 2021 6,264 points 60 metres 7.07 Belgrade 18 March 2022 858 points Long jump Belgrade 18 March 2022 945 points Shot put Fayetteville 11 March 2021 854 points High jump Tartu 19 January 2018 896 points 60 metres hurdles 8.24 Fayetteville 12 March 2021 922 points Pole vault Fayetteville 12 March 2021 898 points 1000 metres 2:36.32 Fayetteville 12 March 2021 915 points Virtual Best Performance 6,288 points
References
External links
(Track & Field Results Reporting System)