Jacksonville’s Garrett Scantling in 5th place after three events of the Olympic decathlon

Garrett Scantling, of the United States, competes in the long jump of the decathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) (David J. Phillip, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Three events into the decathlon, Episcopal alum Garrett Scantling sits in fifth place with seven events still to come. It’s a long way from where Scantling sat five years ago.

After the 2016 Olympic trials, when Garrett Scantling finishes one spot out of making the US team, the Episcopal alum retired from the decathlon, tried his hand at football. He went to training camp with the Atlanta Falcons and even had a tryout with the Jaguars. Then went into the world of finance. But he just couldn’t put the decathlon behind him. So he got back to training, and this year won the Olympic trials.

Recommended Videos



In the 100 meter dash, Scantling clocked in at 10.67 seconds, that’s a little slower than his personal best that he turned in at the Olympic trials when he ran 10.53.

In the next event, Scantling turned in a long jump of 7.30 meters, just under 24 feet. Again, just shy of his best unaided long jump of 7.56 meters turned in in Athena, Georgia in April. His jump was the ninth longest of the event.

In the shot put, Scantling launched one of the best throws of the day, 15.59 meters.

By the time the first three events wrapped, Scantling found himself sitting in fifth place overall. Next up, the high jump, the 400 meters, the 110 meter hurdles, the discus throw and the pole vault. Then the final events, the javelin and the 1500 meters which is scheduled to be run at 7:20 a.m. Thursday.