Garrett Scantling’s stirring return to the sport was helped by training mates from a small European country, which supports athletes with early competition and a TV show
U.S. Olympic track and field trials
, he capped a comeback that ran from a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Olympic trials through retirement and then an unlikely return. Then, he said something curious. Scantling, who hails from one of the biggest and winningest athletic nations on earth, gave a large measure of credit for his triumph to training partners from a small European country with about the same population as his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla.
“That Estonian-American decathlon group we have in Athens , it definitely has helped me become a better athlete, a better person and just, it’s boosted my work ethic,” Scantling said. “And I think that’s what I needed to get over the hump.”decathlon that starts Wednesday, with favorites including world record holder Kevin Mayer of France and 2021 world leader Damian Warner of Canada. He’ll also face a few of his Estonian training partners, including 2019 world silver medalist Maicel Uibo.
This international showdown raises some very specific questions back in the U.S.: How did Estonian athletes become so great at the decathlon, and how did that greatness land at the University of Georgia?
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