University of Georgia Athletics
Scantling Still Pushing For More
July 30, 2026 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Four days after winning the decathlon at the USATF Outdoor Championships in New York, Garrett Scantling was still riding high after winning the fifth U.S. national championship of his career.
"I absolutely am," the former Georgia three-time SEC champion and All-American said during a phone interview on Wednesday.
And for good reason. Scantling won four of the 10 events, placed second in two and third in another, and he did so just a few months after having a benign tumor surgically removed from his groin in March.
"So they went in and they took it out," he said of the surgery. "And when I tell you, I felt immediate relief. I mean, the first couple of weeks, I was on my butt. But after that, I had no more pain, and so I got to put together a bunch of consecutive weeks of training. And so I knew that I was ready going into the competition.
"It's just that competition shape is a little bit different than just training, training, training. So I'm glad that I could put something together and showcase a little bit of what I'm capable of."
Scantling, who has now won three U.S. outdoor decathlon titles and two indoor heptathlon championships, has long been capable of plenty. And despite now being 33 years old, he showed that he's still got plenty left in the tank.
"It's kind of the same work that goes into it. Like, nothing really changes," he said. "I've been committed to the program that I've been training with for going on 15 years."
That program began at Georgia under former head coach Petros Kyprianou, who coached multiple Bulldogs to multiple championships in the decathlon and heptathlon. Scantling not only still trains under Kyprianou, he's one of Kyprianou's assistant coaches at Illinois. Scantling said coaching is "definitely what I want to do for the rest of my life," but there is still plenty he wants to do before he retires from competing.
"I did great, but there is definitely so much more I have left to improve on, and I feel confident going forward for sure," he said of his performance at the USATF Outdoor Championships.
Scantling won with a score of 8,526, just ahead of another former Georgia star, Kyle Garland, who scored 8,431 to place second.
"I told him at the end, 'I wish we both could have come in first,' but you know, at the end of the day, Kyle's future is like the sun. It's as bright as a shining star. He's going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come," Scantling said of Garland, who set collegiate records in the decathlon and heptathlon and won the NCAA heptathlon title in 2023.
Scantling's winning score ranks fourth in the world this year. Garland's ranks seventh, and former Bulldogs Karel Tilga (8,413) and Devon Williams (8,402) rank 10th and 11th, respectively. That's four Georgia greats among the top 11 in the world.
"That's pretty dang cool," Scantling said. "We're here to stay, man."
Scantling won SEC heptathlon titles in 2013, '14 and '15, and had a second and two third-place finishes at the NCAA Indoors. He later placed fourth in the decathlon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The following year, while ranked No. 1 in the world, he was suspended from competition for three years due to three missed U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug tests within a 12-month period.
Along with the suspension, Scantling has stepped away from track and field a couple of times over the past decades. He gave pro football a try with tryouts with the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars, and he also worked as a financial planner back home in Jacksonville.
"I'm 33, but at the same time, I've missed six years of track and field over the last 10 years. I retired once and then I got suspended once, so I like to think that my body's more in the 27-28 range, which is the prime for the decathlon," he said. "Hopefully, I can stay healthy and I can keep pushing the limits, for sure."
Scantling has a career-best score of 8.867 in the decathlon, and he believes he can reach or exceed that number again before he's done. When he looks back at his performance over the weekend, he sees a lot of points that he could have earned, particularly in the javelin throw.
"I've been throwing just about 70 meters every single practice, and I think that's where I left the most points. I only threw (62.49), and I threw 66 in warmups, so right there, that's at least 100 points," he said. "Talking to my coach, we know we left 200, 300 points out there, but, you know, we're happy to get the win, stay healthy through it, and then just kind of go back to the drawing board and see what we can approach differently going into the fall and then the indoor season."
Scantling narrowly missed earning a bronze medal in Tokyo, and he missed out on the Paris Olympics in 2024 because of his suspension. He now has his eyes set on doing everything he can to compete at the 2027 World Championships in Beijing and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Games in L.A. could be the finish line for Scantling's career, but maybe not, he said.
"As of right now, it would be nice to finish on a high note (in L.A.), but if I go there and deal and do super well, it's going to be kind of hard to hang up the spikes. We'll see. I was going to retire in 2024, that was the plan before everything happened, but now I have a lot to prove to myself. We'll take it a competition at a time and see where the cards may fall."
Staff Writer
Four days after winning the decathlon at the USATF Outdoor Championships in New York, Garrett Scantling was still riding high after winning the fifth U.S. national championship of his career.
"I absolutely am," the former Georgia three-time SEC champion and All-American said during a phone interview on Wednesday.
And for good reason. Scantling won four of the 10 events, placed second in two and third in another, and he did so just a few months after having a benign tumor surgically removed from his groin in March.
"So they went in and they took it out," he said of the surgery. "And when I tell you, I felt immediate relief. I mean, the first couple of weeks, I was on my butt. But after that, I had no more pain, and so I got to put together a bunch of consecutive weeks of training. And so I knew that I was ready going into the competition.
"It's just that competition shape is a little bit different than just training, training, training. So I'm glad that I could put something together and showcase a little bit of what I'm capable of."
Scantling, who has now won three U.S. outdoor decathlon titles and two indoor heptathlon championships, has long been capable of plenty. And despite now being 33 years old, he showed that he's still got plenty left in the tank.
"It's kind of the same work that goes into it. Like, nothing really changes," he said. "I've been committed to the program that I've been training with for going on 15 years."
That program began at Georgia under former head coach Petros Kyprianou, who coached multiple Bulldogs to multiple championships in the decathlon and heptathlon. Scantling not only still trains under Kyprianou, he's one of Kyprianou's assistant coaches at Illinois. Scantling said coaching is "definitely what I want to do for the rest of my life," but there is still plenty he wants to do before he retires from competing.
"I did great, but there is definitely so much more I have left to improve on, and I feel confident going forward for sure," he said of his performance at the USATF Outdoor Championships.
Scantling won with a score of 8,526, just ahead of another former Georgia star, Kyle Garland, who scored 8,431 to place second.
"I told him at the end, 'I wish we both could have come in first,' but you know, at the end of the day, Kyle's future is like the sun. It's as bright as a shining star. He's going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come," Scantling said of Garland, who set collegiate records in the decathlon and heptathlon and won the NCAA heptathlon title in 2023.
Scantling's winning score ranks fourth in the world this year. Garland's ranks seventh, and former Bulldogs Karel Tilga (8,413) and Devon Williams (8,402) rank 10th and 11th, respectively. That's four Georgia greats among the top 11 in the world.
"That's pretty dang cool," Scantling said. "We're here to stay, man."
Scantling won SEC heptathlon titles in 2013, '14 and '15, and had a second and two third-place finishes at the NCAA Indoors. He later placed fourth in the decathlon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The following year, while ranked No. 1 in the world, he was suspended from competition for three years due to three missed U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug tests within a 12-month period.
Along with the suspension, Scantling has stepped away from track and field a couple of times over the past decades. He gave pro football a try with tryouts with the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars, and he also worked as a financial planner back home in Jacksonville.
"I'm 33, but at the same time, I've missed six years of track and field over the last 10 years. I retired once and then I got suspended once, so I like to think that my body's more in the 27-28 range, which is the prime for the decathlon," he said. "Hopefully, I can stay healthy and I can keep pushing the limits, for sure."
Scantling has a career-best score of 8.867 in the decathlon, and he believes he can reach or exceed that number again before he's done. When he looks back at his performance over the weekend, he sees a lot of points that he could have earned, particularly in the javelin throw.
"I've been throwing just about 70 meters every single practice, and I think that's where I left the most points. I only threw (62.49), and I threw 66 in warmups, so right there, that's at least 100 points," he said. "Talking to my coach, we know we left 200, 300 points out there, but, you know, we're happy to get the win, stay healthy through it, and then just kind of go back to the drawing board and see what we can approach differently going into the fall and then the indoor season."
Scantling narrowly missed earning a bronze medal in Tokyo, and he missed out on the Paris Olympics in 2024 because of his suspension. He now has his eyes set on doing everything he can to compete at the 2027 World Championships in Beijing and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Games in L.A. could be the finish line for Scantling's career, but maybe not, he said.
"As of right now, it would be nice to finish on a high note (in L.A.), but if I go there and deal and do super well, it's going to be kind of hard to hang up the spikes. We'll see. I was going to retire in 2024, that was the plan before everything happened, but now I have a lot to prove to myself. We'll take it a competition at a time and see where the cards may fall."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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